Physical and charge discharge behavior of facile PVDF-HFP nanocomposite microporous polymer electrolyte for lithium ion polymer batteries

Abstract

Synthesized wurtzite ZnO nanostructures are incorporated on the poly (vinylidenefluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVdF-HFP) matrix, which improves the thermal as well as porosity nature of as obtained thin film nanocomposite microporous polymer membrane (nanoCMPM). The membrane shows a favorable effect on the crystallinity (Xc) of 26.83% and melting temperature (Tm) of 142.9 °C that improves the conductivity of polymer electrolytes. Its characteristics were examined by thermal studies. The optimized polymer membrane was found to have a high degree of porosity (76%) and excellent film strength. The membranes were prepared as a polymer electrolytes in soaking lithium percholoride (LiClO4) salt solution and ethylene carbonate (EC) as well as dimethylene carbonate (DMC) in 1: 1 (v/v) ratio as plasticizer to form gel type nanocomposite microporous polymer electrolytes (nanoCMPE). It shows the ionic conductivity in the order of 10−3 S cm−1 at 298 K for all optimized polymer electrolytes with different lithium salt electrolyte concentrations. The polymer membrane electrolyte has good compatibility and fabricates [LiCoO2/PVDF-HFP-ZnO-LiClO4/mesocarbon microbeads (MCMB)] as coin type cell. The charge–discharge characteristics as well as cell performance were investigated at 0.5 C rate. The polymer electrolyte is a better candidate to perform in lithium ion polymer batteries.