An electrode for a lithium battery constructed of a metal foil current collector, a coating of a pH sensitive polyelectrolyte polymer directly on the metal foil current collector; and a polyelectrolyte polymer nanomembrane comprising alternating layers of oppositely charged polyelectrolyte polymer wherein each succeeding polyelectrolyte layer has excess charge over the previous layer is provided. The pH sensitive polymer may be poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH), poly(dimethyldiallyl ammonium chloride) (PDAD), poly(vinyl pyridine) (PPy), polyethyleneimine (PEI), polyacrylic acid (PAA), polymethacrylic acid (PMA) or poly(styrene sulfonic acid-maleic acid, sodium salt) (PSSM3:1).