Recent Advances in Polymer Electrolytes for Batteries

A special issue of Batteries (ISSN 2313-0105). This special issue belongs to the section "Battery Materials and Interfaces: Anode, Cathode, Separators and Electrolytes or Others".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 September 2024) | Viewed by 2257

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
POLYMAT, University of the Basque Country - UPV/EHU, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
Interests: lithium batteries; polymer electrolytes; ionic liquid; block copolymers; nanostructured materials; redox polymers; organic-based batteries

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Batteries will play a key role in the efficient transition of the technology associated with the energy and transport sectors towards a carbon-neutral economy, which is essential for the fight against climate change. The lithium-ion battery has emerged as the state-of-the-art technology for applications, ranging from small handheld electronics to electric vehicles and stationary energy storage. However, the current lithium-ion battery technology has reached its practical limits in terms of energy density and has recently raised safety concerns due to the flammability of the traditional liquid-based electrolyte. Over the last decades, various alternative high-energy density battery technologies have been proposed, such as lithium metal, alkali metal-air, sulphur and silicon batteries. The use of traditional liquid-based electrolytes in conjunction with these high-energy density active materials is challenging due to various factors, such as the degradation of the electrolyte in contact with active materials, inability of traditional liquid-based electrolytes to form stable solid electrolyte interphase and active material dissolution issues. Additionally, a high-modulus solid electrolyte has been shown to enable the use of a lithium metal anode, which is critical for the development of high-energy density batteries. Polymer electrolytes have emerged as a promising alternative to traditional liquid-based electrolytes due to their inherent proprieties, such as process-ability, good physio-chemical stability and low flammability, enabling the use of the aforementioned high-energy density active materials. This Special Issue aims to highlight the recent advances in polymer electrolytes for application in high-energy-density battery technologies.

Potential topics, but not limited to, are:

  • Solid polymer electrolyte;
  • Ionogel electrolyte;
  • Block copolymer electrolytes;
  • Single ion conducting polymer electrolytes;
  • Alkali metal salt for solid-state electrolyte;
  • Hybrid polymer electrolytes;
  • Elucidation of the ionic dynamic and speciation in solid-state electrolytes;
  • Solid electrolyte interphase;
  • In-situ and operando characterization of all solid-state batteries;
  • Solid-state electrolyte processing;
  • Lithium metal batteries;
  • Alkali metal-air batteries;
  • Lithium Sulphur batteries;
  • Solid-state silicon-based batteries.

Dr. Nicolas Goujon
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • solid polymer electrolyte
  • ionogel electrolyte
  • block copolymer electrolytes
  • single ion conducting polymer electrolytes
  • alkali metal salt for solid-state electrolyte
  • hybrid polymer electrolytes
  • elucidation of the ionic dynamic and speciation in solid-state electrolytes
  • solid electrolyte interphase
  • in-situ and operando characterization of all solid-state batteries
  • solid-state electrolyte processing
  • lithium metal batteries
  • alkali metal-air batteries
  • lithium sulphur batteries
  • solid-state silicon-based batteries

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 2385 KiB  
Article
Poly(vinyl benzoate)-b-poly(diallyldimethyl ammonium TFSI)-b-poly(vinyl benzoate) Triblock Copolymer Electrolytes for Sodium Batteries
by Pierre L. Stigliano, Antonela Gallastegui, Carlos Villacis-Segovia, Marco Amores, Ajit Kumar, Luke A. O’Dell, Jian Fang, David Mecerreyes, Cristina Pozo-Gonzalo and Maria Forsyth
Batteries 2024, 10(4), 125; https://doi.org/10.3390/batteries10040125 - 8 Apr 2024
Viewed by 1796
Abstract
Block copolymers (BCPs) as solid electrolytes for batteries are usually designed to have an ion-solvating block for ion conduction and an ionophobic block for providing mechanical strength. Here, we show a novel solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) for sodium batteries based on a poly(vinyl [...] Read more.
Block copolymers (BCPs) as solid electrolytes for batteries are usually designed to have an ion-solvating block for ion conduction and an ionophobic block for providing mechanical strength. Here, we show a novel solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) for sodium batteries based on a poly(vinyl benzoate)-b-poly(diallyldimethyl ammonium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide) PVBx-b-PDADMATFSIy-b-PVBx ABA triblock copolymer. The SPE triblock copolymer comprises a polymerized ionic liquid (PIL) ion-solvating block combined with NaFSI salt as an internal block and an ionophilic PVB as an external block. Four distinct compositions with varying chain lengths of the blocks were synthesized by reversible addition−fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) polymerization. The neat copolymers were subsequently mixed with NaFSI in a 2:1 mol ratio of Na to ionic monomer units. Through comprehensive analysis using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), it was revealed that the ion coordination within the polymer–salt mixtures undergoes changes based on the composition of the starting neat polymer. Electrochemical evaluations identified the optimal composition for practical application as PVB11.5K-b-PDADMATFSI33K-b-PVB11.5K, showing an ionic conductivity at 70 °C of 4.2 × 10−5 S cm−1. This polymer electrolyte formulation was investigated for sodium in Na|Na symmetrical cells, showing an overpotential of 200 mV at 70 °C at 0.1 mA cm−2. When applied in a sodium–air battery, the polymer electrolyte membrane achieved a discharge capacity of 1.59 mAh cm−2 at 50 °C. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Polymer Electrolytes for Batteries)
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