Nanofiber Single‐Ion Conducting Electrolytes: An Approach for High‐Performance Lithium Batteries at Ambient Temperature

Abstract

AbstractExploring the benefits of a nanofibrous morphology in electrolyte materials for Li‐battery applications, an approach of fabricating single‐ion conducting electrolyte (SICE) membranes is reported. A nonwoven nanofabric SICE membrane, delivering an outstanding performance, surpassing the conventional liquid electrolyte system at ambient conditions, was fabricated by using an electrospinning technique. When soaked in a carbonate solvent system, the membrane shows high ionic conductivity, electrochemical stability above 5.2 V (vs. Li/Li+) and a lithium transference number ( ) close to unity (0.93). Moreover, a LiFePO4|Li cell assembled with this membrane performs charge/discharge up to the 5 C rate under ambient conditions with a coulombic efficiency close to 100%. The discharge capacities of this battery are found to be higher than those of a battery assembled with a commercial separator/dual‐ion salt electrolyte system up to 2 C, which offers significant progress for SICEs. Unlike most of the earlier reported SICEs that performed like a bulk‐material entity, the innovative approach might be valuable for future developments.