Solid polymer electrolytes of ionic liquids via a bicontinuous ion transport channel for lithium metal batteries. Issue 4 (4th January 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cho, Won-Jang; Cho, Seok-Kyu; Lee, Jun Hyuk; Yoon, Jeong Hoon; Kwon, Sangwoo; Park, Chanui; Lee, Won Bo; Yoo, Pil J.; Lee, Minjae; Park, Sungkyun; Kang, Tai Hui; Yi, Gi-Ra
• Is Part Of: Journal of materials chemistry. Volume 11:Issue 4(2023)
• Page Start: 1676
• Page End: 1683
• Publication Date: 2023-01-04
• Subjects: Materials -- Research -- Periodicals; Chemistry, Analytic -- Periodicals; Environmental sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; 543.0284
• DOI: 10.1039/d2ta08139c
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2050-7488

Abstract

Abstract : Polymer electrolytes with bicontinuous nanostructures for lithium metal batteries were prepared by UV-polymerization of hydrophobic domains in microemulsions of ionic liquids, amphiphilic ionic liquids, lithium salts and monomers. Abstract : Solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) are a key component of solid-state lithium metal batteries. For attaining high ionic conductivity and high mechanical strength simultaneously, nanostructured SPEs are designed to have functionally separated ion transporting channels and solid-phase walls. Here, we report ion-conductive bicontinuous solid polymer electrolytes (Bi-SPEs) from thermodynamically stable bicontinuous microemulsions of ionic liquids and diacrylates in the presence of amphiphilic ionic liquids and lithium salt. From stable bicontinuous microemulsions with 10–30 wt% amphiphilic ionic liquids, free-standing Bi-SPE films were successfully obtained by photopolymerization and then implemented in lithium metal batteries. At 10 wt% of amphiphilic ionic liquids, the ionic conductivity increased up to 1.4 mS cm −1 keeping the mechanical strength at 0.8 MPa. A LiFePO4 -paired lithium metal cell exhibits a stable discharge capacity of 121.9 mA h g −1 with 90.3% capacity retention (CE = 99.9%) over 300 cycles at 0.5 C and 30 °C.