Protective coating of metal

1. An ionically-conductive coated alkaline or alkaline earth metal surface comprising:

a plurality of organic surface moieties comprising silicon covalently bound by an oxygen to a lithium, sodium, magnesium or aluminum metal surface, and

at least one hydrophobic ionic liquid material comprising a ceramic particle tethered to at least one of the plurality of organic surface moieties covalently bound by an oxygen to the metal surface, wherein the at least one hydrophobic ionic liquid material comprises an organic cation, anion, a functionalized site and a hydrophobic site, wherein the ionic liquid material is polymerized through the functionalized site to at least one of the plurality of organic surface moieties, so as to form a hydrophobic, ionically-conductive coating comprising a hydrophobic outer surface and being covalently attached to the metal surface.

2. The coating of claim 1 wherein the metal is an anode electrode.

3. The coating of claim 1 wherein the metal is lithium.

4. The coating of claim 1 wherein the tethered ceramic particle has a size range from 5 nm to 1 um.

5. The coating of claim 1 wherein the size of the tethered ceramic particle is about 10 nm.

6. The coating of claim 4 wherein the tethered ceramic particle comprises nanoparticle materials.

7. The coating of claim 1 wherein the tethered surface moieties are partially cross-linked to ionic liquid materials.

8. The coating of claim 1 wherein the ionic liquid material is a nanoscale ionic material.

9. The coating of claim 1 wherein the partially cross-linked liquid materials are nanoscale ionic materials.

10. A method of making an ionically-conductive coating having a hydrophobic outer surface, on a metal surface which comprises:

a) providing the metal surface with hydroxyl binding sites;

b) covalently bonding organic surface moieties comprising silicon and an organic site to the hydroxyl binding sites through the silicon to provide a metal-O—Si bond;

c) crosslinking at least one hydrophobic ionic liquid material to the metal-O—Si bond by combining the at least one hydrophobic ionic liquid material with a UV sensitizer and at least 50 wt. % of an acrylate crosslinker based on the coating and subjecting the mixture to ultraviolet radiation, resulting in an ionically-conductive coating comprising an ionic liquid polymer, having a hydrophobic outer surface and being covalently attached to the metal surface, wherein the ionic liquid material comprises an organic cation, anion, a functionalized site and a hydrophobic site.

11. The method of claim 10 which comprises treating the metal surface to increase the number of binding sites prior to binding.

12. The method of claim 10 comprises wherein the ionic liquid material is a nanoscale ionic material.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the organic surface moieties comprise a nanoparticle.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein the metal surface is lithium, sodium, magnesium or aluminum.