Thursday, 5 October 2017: 08:00
Maryland D (Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center)
Lithium-ion battery (LIB) has been utilized in variety applications as energy source. Structural battery is a new approach that employs multifunctional material concept to use LIB with load-bearing capability to minimize the weight of the complete energy consumption system and maximize the efficiency. Separators are polymeric materials that have been known as the weakest component of conventional LIB. This work aims at creating electrospun membranes with multifunction, improved thermal resistance and mechanical properties as the next generation LIB separator. Electrospinning process (ES) is known as simple, flexible, versatile also cost-effective at all scales. The ES employs an electrostatic force to control the production of nanofibers from polymer solutions. Solution and process parameters, such as type of polymer and cross-linking additives, concentration of polymer solution, acceleration voltage, and solution feed rate, have been studied to achieve the desirable membrane properties. Many characteristics of ES polymer membrane would affect performance of it as the separator in LIB. In this study, design of experiments techniques has also been utilized to optimize the parameters in creating an improved multifunctional separator for structural battery applications.