Presenter: Tian Khoon Lee
Title: Polycarbonate-ZrO2 nano-composite electrolytes for ambient temperature solid-state batteries
Affiliation: Department of Chemistry-Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University, Box 538, SE-75121 Uppsala, Sweden
Abstract
Polycarbonate-based polymer electrolytes have recently shown great interest after displaying promising functionalities for solid-state lithium-ion batteries. In this present work, poly(trimethylene carbonate)-ɛ-caprolactone electrolytes are developed further by the inclusion of zirconium oxide particles, prepared by an in-situ sol-gel method, resulting in PTMC80CL20-LiTFSI-ZrO2. SEM micrographs show that ZrO2 particles with 40-60 nm size are uniform in size. Contrary to many studies on filler-polymer electrolytes, the changes in ionic conductivity are insignificant upon addition of zirconia filler in this fully amorphous polymer, but remain at ~10-5 S cm-1 at room temperature. On the other hand, high lithium transference numbers in the range 0.83 to 0.87 and improved electrochemical stability at room temperature are obtained. Moreover, the stability and cyclability of the nano-composite polymer electrolyte (NCPE) is further demonstrated by plating/stripping test with Li metal electrode.