Abstract
Lithium rechargeable cells based on liquid electrolytes have been used for numerous applications due to their high performance. At present, it has been identified the possible hazardous effects of those cells. As an alternative, much research is focused on non-lithium rechargeable cells based on Gel Polymer Electrolytes (GPEs). Basically, a GPE is consisted of a salt and solvent mixture entrapped inside a polymer network. However, these solvents are toxic and flammable. This imposes a limitation for the safety of GPEs. This paper, reported about a Zn rechargeable cell having a GPE based on an ionic liquid which eliminates the need of solvents. The polymer used was Poly-Vinylidene Fluoride co Hexa FluoroPropylene (PVdF-co-HFP). As the salt, Zinc Tri-Fluoromethanesulfonate (Zn(CF3SO3)2 – ZnTF) was used and 1 Butyl 3 Methyl Immidazolium Tri-Fluoromethanesulfonate (1B3MITF) was used as the Ionic Liquid (IL). It was observed that there is an optimum salt concentration that results the highest conductivity in IL. A Zn rechargeable cell was fabricated using the optimized composition of the GPE. It was observed that the cell is suitable for low power requirements.
Highlights
Rechargeable lithium ion cells have been attracted in diverse scales for many applications in the modern technological society during the past decades
The conductivity decreases but it is still higher than the conductivity of the gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) with only the polymer and the IL
The GPE based on PVdF-co-HFP, ZnTf and 1 Butyl Methyl Immidazolium Tri-Fluoromethanesulfonate (1B3MITF) of the composition 1 : 2.5 : 2 showed the highest room temperature conductivity of 3.88 × 10-4 Scm-1 which is quite suitable for ambient temperature applications
Summary
Rechargeable lithium ion cells have been attracted in diverse scales for many applications in the modern technological society during the past decades. A major research focus is shed on cells based on non Li electrodes and gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs). Among the non Li materials, Zn, Mg, Al and Na are some of the materials that have offered the promise to replace Li. Replacing liquid electrolytes, GPEs have exhibited appealing performance in numerous applications encroaching the fields of medicine, transport, information technology, telecommunication and many more[2,3]. GPEs have exhibited appealing performance in numerous applications encroaching the fields of medicine, transport, information technology, telecommunication and many more[2,3] Their electrical and mechanical properties are compatible with liquid electrolytes and solid electrolytes respectively. GPEs are prepared using a polymer, a salt and a solvent/s mixture. It has been reported that volatility, flammability and toxicity of solvents may lead to interfacial stability in the electrodes, reduction of conductivity with time, poor dimensional stability and low reliability[4]
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