Preparation of single-ion conductor solid polymer electrolyte by multi-nozzle electrospinning process for lithium-ion batteries

Abstract

In this work, a method for preparing solid polymer electrolytes with function of single ion conduction (SICs-SPEs) is developed and reported. A solid state ionic conduction path with three-dimensional interpenetrating network was constructed by multi-nozzle electrospinning technology and a followed hot pressed treatment. Here, two components of SICs-SPEs were chosen where one component is a single ion conducting lithium salt with polyanion structure, and the other component is a solid polymer electrolyte matrix with the function of conducting lithium ions in solid state. This stable three-dimensional interpenetrating network structure is beneficial to inhibit the separation of the two components. At the same time, the introduction of hydrophilic and hydrophobic silica (SiO2) reduces the crystallinity of polyethylene oxide (PEO) and promotes the dissociation of lithium ions, respectively, thereby the ionic conductivity of the prepared single-ion conductor solid polymer electrolyte can be increased to 5.4 × 10−5 S cm−1 at 60 °C, and the lithium-ion transference number (tLi+) can be increased to 0.96. This method can also adjust the performance of the solid state polymer electrolyte through balancing the ration of composition by controlling the number of spinning nozzle. It provides a practical way to develop functional solid polymer electrolyte by electrospinning technology with nozzle design.