Pore Architecture and Dynamic Ionic States in Solid and Quasi-Solid Electrolytes for Lithium, Sodium, and Zinc Batteries: Evidence and Testable Criteria for Ionic Memory

Porous electrolytes are commonly discussed through pore size, surface area, conductivity, and cell lifetime, although these measurements do not by themselves identify the conducting phase or ionic pathway. This critical narrative review examines how architecture regulates ion-specific states in lithium, sodium, and zinc electrolytes. We distinguish solvent-free solids from solvent-containing composites, gels, ionogels, and hydrated networks, then evaluate evidence connecting pore accessibility and wall chemistry to salt speciation, counterion retention, residence time, and transport. Published observations are separated from mechanistic interpretations and prospective hypotheses. The synthesis motivates a state-aware framework whose descriptors are organizing tools, not validated universal laws. Nanofluidic and iontronic demonstrations provide device-specific precedents for ionic memory; they do not establish memory in bulk battery electrolytes. A unified write–wait–read–erase protocol and an evidence matrix distinguish dynamic ionic gating, history-dependent transport, persistent reversible ionic states, and programmable ionic memory from irreversible conditioning and artifacts. The proposed extension to bulk battery electrolytes remains an open experimental question requiring field-off retention, minimal disturbance of readout, reversible switching, and controls locating the state within the electrolyte.