The surface chemistry of LIC, pristine NCA and LIC@NCA was studied via XPS as shown in Fig. . The In 3d spectrum displays a doublet with a single component and peaks located at 453.8 eV (In 3d3/2) and 446.2 eV (In 3d5/2) (Fig. ). The Cl 2p spectrum also displays a doublet with a single component with peaks at 201.2 eV (Cl 2p1/2) and 199.5 eV (Cl 2p1/2) (Fig. ). These components can be assigned to the In 3+ and Cl -chemical bonding states in LIC, respectively. Ni 2p and Co 2p core levels from the bare NCA cathode were studied as well. According to the spectrum of Ni 2p (Fig. ), two components appear at 854.6 eV and 856.6 eV, assigned to Ni 2+ and Ni 3+ , respectively , an indication of mixed valence . The observation of Ni 2p and Co 2p core levels from LIC@NCA is difficult because the surface sensitivity of XPS significantly decreases their intensity. In turn, the observation of these peaks in LIC@NCA (Fig. ) with a similar line shape (in the case of Ni 2p) and with a strongly damped intensity in both cases, compared with pristine NCA (Fig. ), indicates that NCA is shielded by LIC, which gives further evidence for the successful coating.