Tuesday, 3 October 2017
Prince George's Exhibit Hall D/E (Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center)
Solid polymer electrolytes (SPE) have gained a lot of attention recently due to their lower interfacial resistance with electrodes and high processability. However, these electrolytes still suffer from low ionic conductivity at room temperature. The lithium ion transfer within the polymer electrolyte is heavily dependent on polymer chain mobility, and one of the most efficient ways to enhance its ionic conductivity is by an addition of a filler that would prevent the polymer from crystallizing. In this work, we utilize nanoporous electrospun Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZO) as fillers in polyethylene oxide(PEO)/bis(trifluoromethane)sulfonimide lithium (LiTFSI) polymer electrolyte. Nanoporous LLZO was synthesized by electrospinning LLZO precursor fibers followed by calcination. LLZO is one of the most popular inorganic solid electrolytes (ISE) due to its great electrochemical stability and high ionic conductivity. LLZO serves a multifunctional role of inhibiting polymer crystallinity as well as of providing an additional lithium ion transfer mechanism. The ultra-fine nanoporous particle morphology enhances the polymer chain mobility which has the potential to significantly improve the ionic conductivity of hybrid polymer electrolyte (HPE).