Gel Polymer Electrolyte with Enhanced Performance Based on Lignocellulose Modified by NaOH/Urea for Lithium‐Sulfur Batteries

Abstract

AbstractAn environmentally friendly gel polymer electrolyte (GPE) applied in lithium‐sulfur (Li−S) batteries is based on the modified lignocellulose (LC), which is made from raw LC material with NaOH/urea aqueous solution through a simple partial dissolution method. Surfaces of fibers dissolve during the dissolution process and form a matrix among the fibers during the regeneration stage, which significantly improves the mechanical properties by up to five times. Meanwhile, the GPE (G3) shows enough liquid electrolyte absorption (144 %) and good thermal stability when the dissolution time is 20 min. It has high lithium ion transference number of 0.74 and good ion conductivity of 2.42 mS cm−1, which is an order higher than that of the commercial separator. Besides, sufficient electrochemical stability and interface compatibility can meet requirements of Li−S batteries. Compared with the battery with the commercial separator, Li/G3/S battery exhibits enhanced rate and cycling performance, which shows that G3 can effectively suppress the “shuttle effect”.