Lithium-Conducting Polymer Electrolytes for Chemical Power Sources

High Salt-Content Plasticized Flame-Retardant Polymer Electrolytes

New solid polymer electrolytes are of particular interest for next-generation high-energy batteries since they can overcome the limited voltage window of conventional polyether-based electrolytes. Herein, a flame-retardant phosphorus-containing polymer, poly(dimethyl(methacryloyloxy)methyl phosphonate) (PMAPC1) is introduced as a promising polymer matrix. Free-standing membranes are easily obtained by mixing PMAPC1 with lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) and a small amount of acetonitrile (AN). LiTFSI/AN mixed aggregates are formed that act as plasticizers and enable ionic conductivities up to 1.6 × 10^-3 S cm^-1 at 100 °C. The high content of LiTFSI used in our electrolytes leads to the formation of a stable LiF solid-electrolyte interphase, which can effectively suppress Li dendrites and the chemical degradation of AN in contact with Li. Accordingly the electrolyte membranes exhibit a wide electrochemical stability window above 4.7 V versus Li⁺/Li and fire-retardant properties due to the presence of the phosphorus-containing polymer. Atomistic molecular modeling simulations have been performed to determine the structure of the electrolytes on the microscopic scale and to rationalize the trends in ionic conductivity and the transport regime as a function of the electrolyte composition. Finally, our electrolyte membranes enable stable cycling performance for LiFePO₄|PMAPC1 + LiTFSI + AN|Li batteries.

Strong and Flexible Composite Solid Polymer Electrolyte Membranes for Li-Ion Batteries

A composite solid polymer electrolyte (CSPE) is studied in this work to alleviate the concerns associated with poor mechanical strength of a solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) system composed of poly(ethyleneglycol)diacrylate, an electrolyte lithium bis(trifluoromethane)sulfonamide, and a plasticizer succinonitrile. CSPE is fabricated by incorporating the ingredients of SPE in the macroporous membranes of syndiotactic polystyrene to render flexibility and mechanical robustness with a 6-fold increase in tensile strength over SPE. The data from differential scanning calorimetry and wide-angle X-ray diffraction confirm the amorphous nature of the polymeric domains of SPE that produce high room-temperature ionic conductivity of ∼0.43 mS/cm. The flexible CSPE membranes are used as the electrolyte in Li-ion battery (LIB) half cells in conjunction with lithium iron phosphate as the counter electrode. The use of CSPE helps expand the electrochemical window of the cell to 5 V, indicating strong potential in the fabrication of flexible rechargeable LIBs.