Improvement of electrochemical properties of PEO?LiTFSI electrolyte by incorporation of boroxine polymers with different backbone lengths

Abstract

A series of boroxine polymers (BP) with different backbone lengths were synthesized. Polymer electrolytes prepared by blending poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and BP with Li(N(SO 2CF3)2) (LiTFSI) were evaluated. Better performance was observed by addition of BP in the PEO based polymer electrolyte. The effect of the backbone length of BP on electrochemical properties of PEO–BP–LiTFSI electrolyte systems was investigated. Compared with the PEO–LiTFSI system, about five times higher ionic conductivity at low temperature and five times higher lithium ion transference number at 70 °C were achieved by incorporation of long chain BP in the electrolyte. Short chain BP exhibited outstanding performance in decreasing interfacial resistances on both anode and cathode surfaces. Good battery performance was also observed for these BP containing hybrid polymer electrolytes.