Abstract
Separators are a vital component to ensure the safety of lithium-ion batteries. However, the commercial separators employed in lithium ion batteries are inefficient due to their low porosity. In the present study, a simple electrospinning technique is adopted to prepare highly porous polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based membranes with a higher concentration of lithium aluminum titanium phosphate (LATP) ceramic particles, as a viable alternative to the commercialized separators used in lithium ion batteries. The effect of the LATP particles on the morphology of the porous membranes is demonstrated through Field emission scattering electron microscopy. X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectra studies suitably demonstrate the mixing of PAN and LATP particles in the polymer matrix. PAN with 30 wt% LATP (P-L30) exhibits an enhanced porosity of 90% and is more thermally stable, with the highest electrolyte uptake among all the prepared membranes. Due to better electrolyte uptake, the P-L30 membrane demonstrates an improved ionic conductivity of 1.7 mS/cm. A coin cell prepared with a P-L30 membrane and a LiFePO4 cathode demonstrates the highest discharge capacity of 158 mAh/g at 0.5C rate. The coin cell with the P-L30 membrane also displays good cycling stability by retaining 87% of the initial discharge capacity after 200 cycles of charging and discharging at 0.5C rate.
Highlights
A negligible memory effect, superior energy density, long cycle life, and environmental friendliness are some of the important characteristics that have allowed lithium ion batteries to dominate the commercial secondary battery market over the last three decades
With the incorporation of lithium aluminum titanium phosphate (LATP) particles into the PAN matrix, the polymer solution becomes more viscous than the pristine PAN solution, which results in the increase in the fiber diameters of the electrospun PL membranes
In P-L50 itself there is large amount of variation in the fiber diameters, as seen in Figure 2d, due to a greater accumulation of LATP particles, which leads the of P-L50 membrane demonstrating inferior properties when compared to P-L30 (Table 1)
Summary
A negligible memory effect, superior energy density, long cycle life, and environmental friendliness are some of the important characteristics that have allowed lithium ion batteries to dominate the commercial secondary battery market over the last three decades. Good electrolyte uptake, and better thermal stability are some of the essential features that help polymer membranes qualify as a competent separator for lithium ion batteries [17]. The application of PAN-LATP composites as separators for lithium ion batteries has been studied by Zhang et al They prepared PAN-based membranes with different concentrations of LATP, i.e., 5, 10, and 15 wt% They observed an enhancement in the electrochemical properties of the coin cell, with a separator of 15 wt% PAN-LATP showing the best features [43]. The synthesized PL membranes exhibit improved porosity and electrolyte uptake, better thermal stability, and enhanced electrochemical features, which makes them promising as separators for lithium ion batteries
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