posted on 2021-12-14, 08:30authored byYifan Sha, Tianhao Yu, Tao Dong, Xing-long Wu, Haoyu Tao, Haitao Zhang
A solid-state
electrolyte has attracted great interest on energy
storage and conversion, especially for lithium metal batteries (LMBs).
However, its practical application is limited by poor ionic conductivity
at room temperature and dendrite formation. Herein, a polymerized
ionic liquid (PIL)-based solid electrolyte with the structure of a
semi-interpenetrating polymer network is designed to enhance the ionic
conductivity for LMBs. A one-step in situ cross-link
[Vmim1O2][TFSI] is introduced in the poly(vinylidene fluoride)–hexafluoropropylene
matrix to fabricate the electrolyte. The obtained solid electrolyte
exhibits a high ionic conductivity (1.06 × 10–3 S cm–1 at 25 °C) and a wide electrochemical
window (5.50 V vs Li/Li+). The assembled
lithium symmetrical cell can maintain a stable voltage range over
1000 h, and the mechanism is confirmed by density functional theory
calculations. The employed MD simulations indicate a coordination
of the TFSI– anion with both Li+ and
the polycation in different systems and demonstrate the feasibility
of the Li+ transport improvement based on the PIL. Li/LiFePO4 batteries also show good cycle performance whose reversible
capacity is about 153.7 mA h g–1 with 96.53% Coulombic
efficiency at 0.1 C and 25 °C. This research shows that this
PIL-based solid electrolyte possessed broad application for next-generation
LMBs.