One of the primary challenges to improving lithium-ion batteries lies in comprehending and controlling the intricate interphases. However, the complexity of interface reactions and the buried nature make it difficult to establish the relationship between the interphase characteristics and electrolyte chemistry. Herein, we employ diverse characterization techniques to investigate the progression of electrode-electrolyte interphases, bringing forward opportunities to improve the interphase properties by what we refer to as high-entropy solvation disordered electrolytes. Through formulating an electrolyte with a regular 1.0 M concentration that includes multiple commercial lithium salts, the solvation interaction with lithium ions alters fundamentally. The participation of several salts can result in a weaker solvation interaction, giving rise to an anion-rich and disordered solvation sheath despite the low salt concentration. This induces a conformal, inorganic-rich interphase that effectively passivates electrodes, preventing solvent co-intercalation. Remarkably, this electrolyte significantly enhances the performance of graphite-containing anodes paired with high-capacity cathodes, offering a promising avenue for tailoring interphase chemistries.

Small angle scattering is frequently applied to study the anisotropy in complex soft matter systems. One emerging application is to probe the multi-scale structure in food matrices; while few models are available to describe the anisotropic scattering pattern in a quantitative, yet simple manner. For this purpose, anisotropy is introduced to the Guinier–Porod model to study the scattering from non-spherical objects with a preferred orientation. This generalised anisotropic Guinier–Porod model can be adapted to approximate the sector scattering from both cylinders and ellipsoids (both prolate and oblate). In practice, it is applied to describe the anisotropic scattering from fibres in a meat analogue made of calcium caseinate. A good agreement is found between fitted dimensions of the fibres and those observed from the microscopy image. The effect of orientation distribution on the shape and intensity of the scattering pattern is further discussed and three means to obtain the orientation distribution of the symmetry axis are proposed. Given the model is straightforward and the fitting remains phenomenological, it provides a novel approach to extract information from complex food systems.