Electrospun PAN/cellulose composite separator for high performance lithium-ion battery

Abstract

We prepared the polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/cellulose composite separator for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) using electrospinning and examined its thermal stability, ionic conductivity, electrochemical stability and battery performance, toward high performance of the LIB. The thermal stability of the separator was enhanced by introducing the cellulose at the optimal PAN/cellulose composite of 10 wt% cellulose. The commercial PP completely melted at 210 °C at which the composite separator showed no volume shrinkage. Compared with the PP, the liquid electrolyte-soaked PAN/cellulose (10%) composite exhibited a higher electrochemical oxidation limit (5 V) and a higher ionic conductivity (1.990 mS cm−1) at room temperature. The LiFePO4 battery assembled with the PAN/cellulose (10%) separator expressed an excellent rate performance with a specific discharge capacity of up to 160.1 mAh g−1 at 0.5 °C.