Although solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) lithium rechargeable battery
technologies have been demonstrated, in some instances, at the pilot-s
cale level, the characterization of the reversibility of the lithium a
node remains incomplete. Reversibility of the lithium electrode in sol
id polymer electrolytes (SPEs) has been assumed, in most instances, to
be better than the reversibility of the lithium electrode in liquid e
lectrolytes. However, approaches recently used to increase the ionic c
onductivity of the SPE at ambient temperature, which involved the addi
tion of large fractions of liquid electrolytes to the SPE, are likely
to reduce severely if not eliminated completely, the benefit, if any,
that is associated with using SPEs to improve the reversibility of the
lithium electrode. This paper reviews the literature and establishes
the status of the state-of-the-art of lithium electrode reversibility
in polymer electrolytes.