Separators polymer electrolytes

Polymer electrolytes (e.g., poly (ethylene oxide), poly(propylene oxide)) have attracted considerable attention for batteries in recent years. These polymers form complexes with a variety of alkali metal salts to produce ionic conductors that serve as solid electrolytes. Their use in batteries is still limited due to poor electrode/electrolyte interface and poor room temperature ionic conductivity. Because of the rigid structure, they can also serve as the separator. Polymer electrolytes are discussed briefly in section 6.2. 

SONG, J.M., KANG, H.R., KIM, S.W., et al.. Electrochemical characteristics of phase-separated polymer electrolyte based on poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluo-ropropane) and ethylene carbonate, Electrochim. Acta, 2003,48(10), 1339-46. 

Battery makers sometimes view separators with disdain the separator is needed but does not actively contribute to battery operation. Consequently, very little work (relative to that on electrode materials and electrolytes) is directed towards characterizing separators. In fact, development efforts are under way to displace microporous membranes as battery separators and instead to use gel electrolytes or polymer electrolytes. Polymer electrolytes, in particular, promise enhanced safety by elimi-... 

Therefore, an ideal polymer electrolyte must be flexible (associated with a low Tg), completely amorphous, and must have a high number of cation-coordination sites to assist in the process of salt solvatation and ion pair separation (see Table 11). A review on this subject has been recently published by Inoue [594]. 

Figure 8.31. Principle of a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) fuel cell. A Nation membrane sandwiched between electrodes separates hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen is oxidized into protons and electrons at the anode on the left. Electrons flow through the outer circuit, while protons diffuse through the...

Significant advances have been made in this decade in electrochemical H2 separation, mostly through the use of solid polymer electrolytes. Since the overpotentials for H2 reduction and oxidation are extremely low at properly constructed gas diffusion electrodes, very high current densities are achievable at low total polarization. Sedlak [13] plated thin layer of Pt directly on Nafion proton conductors 0.1-0.2cm in thickness, and obtained nearly 1200 mA/cm2 at less than 0.3 V. The... 

Solid Polymer Electrolyte Technology Ion-exchange membranes, often used as cell separators (see Sect. 2.4.3.2),... 

At this time the only commercially available all-solid-state cell is the lithium battery containing Lil as the electrolyte. Many types of solid lithium ion conductors including inorganic crystalline and glassy materials as well as polymer electrolytes have been proposed as separators in lithium batteries. These are described in the previous chapters. A suitable solid electrolyte for lithium batteries should have the properties... 

For the sake of discussion, we have divided the separators into six types—microporous films, non-wovens, ion exchange membranes, supported liquid membranes, solid polymer electrolytes, and solid ion conductors. A brief description of each type of separator and their application in batteries are discussed below. 

Lithium secondary batteries can be classified into three types, a liquid type battery using liquid electrolytes, a gel type battery using gel electrolytes mixed with polymer and liquid, and a solid type battery using polymer electrolytes. The types of separators used in different types of secondary lithium batteries are shown in Table 1. The liquid lithium-ion cell uses microporous polyolefin separators while the gel polymer lithium-ion cells either use a PVdF separator (e.g. PLION cells) or PVdF coated microporous polyolefin separators. The PLION cells use PVdF loaded with silica and plasticizer as separator. The microporous structure is formed by removing the plasticizer and then filling with liquid electrolyte. They are also characterized as plasticized electrolyte. In solid polymer lithium-ion cells, the solid electrolyte acts as both electrolyte and separator. 

Lithium polymer electrolytes formed by dissolving a lithium salt LiX (where X is preferably a large soft anion) in poly(ethylene oxide) PEO can find useful application as separators in lithium rechargeable polymer batteries.Thin films must be used due to the relatively high ionic resistivity of these polymers. For example, the lithium-ion conductivity of PEO—Li salt complexes at 100 °C is still only about Viooth the conductivity of a typical aqueous solution. 

One particular version of the lithium-ion gel polymer cells, also known as plastic lithium-ion cell (PLION). was developed by Bellcore (now Telcordia Technologies).In this case. Gozdz et al. developed a microporous plasticized PVdF—HFP based polymer electrolyte which served both as separator and electrolyte. In PLION cells, the anode and cathode are laminated onto either side of the gellable membrane. Good adhesion between the electrodes and the membranes is possible because all three sheets contain significant amounts of a PVdF copolymer that can be melted and bonded during the lamination step. 

To overcome the poor mechanical properties of polymer and gel polymer type electrolytes, microporous membranes impregnated with gel polymer electrolytes, such as PVdF. PVdF—HFP. and other gelling agents, have been developed as an electrolyte material for lithium batteries.Gel coated and/ or gel-filled separators have some characteristics that may be harder to achieve in the separator-free gel electrolytes. For example, they can offer much better protection against internal shorts when compared to gel electrolytes and can therefore help in reducing the overall thickness of the electrolyte layer. In addition the ability of some separators to shutdown... 

Figure 29. Schematic of the 1-D transport between an anode and cathode separated by an ultrathin, conformal polymer electrolyte.

The first key component of a membrane fuel cell is the membrane electrolyte. Its central role lies in the separation of the two electrodes and the transport of ionic species (e.g. hydroxyl ion, OH , in an AEM), between them. In general, quaternary ammonium groups are used as anion-exchange groups in these materials. However, due to their low stability in highly alkaline media [43,44], only a few membranes have been evaluated for use as solid polymer electrolytes in alkaline fuel cells. 

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