Tailored crosslinking of Poly(ethylene oxide) enables mechanical robustness and improved sodium-ion conductivity

Michelle L. Lehmann, Guang Yang, Dustin Gilmer, Kee Sung Han, Ethan C. Self, Rose E. Ruther, Sirui Ge, Bingrui Li, Vijayakumar Murugesan, Alexei P. Sokolov, Frank M. Delnick, Jagjit Nanda, Tomonori Saito

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

47 Scopus citations

Abstract

Sodium-based energy storage systems are promising candidates for electric vehicles and grid-level energy storage applications. The advancement of sodium-based energy storage systems relies on the development of high performance sodium-ion conducting electrolytes and membranes that exhibit high ionic conductivity and mechanical stability. A crosslinked poly(ethylene oxide) based polymer electrolyte was developed that demonstrates high ionic conductivity, as well as excellent mechanical stability over a wide temperature range. Ionic conductivities up to 2.0 × 10−4 S/cm at 20 °C and 7.1 × 10−4 S/cm at 70 °C are achieved for the plasticized membrane, almost four orders of magnitude greater than that of the non-plasticized membrane. The membranes are mechanically robust, and the storage modulus of the membrane is maintained at ∼1 MPa from −20 to 180 °C even with the addition of plasticizer. This study provides a synthesis approach towards the design of highly ion conducting, mechanically robust gel polymer electrolytes for Na-ion batteries, non-aqueous flow batteries, and many other applications.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)85-96
Number of pages12
JournalEnergy Storage Materials
Volume21
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2019

Funding

This work is funded by Dr. Imre Gyuk, Office of Electricity Delivery and Reliability , Department of Energy and the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program of Oak Ridge National Laboratory , managed by UT-Battelle , LLC . SG, BL, and APS acknowledge partial financial support on DMA and rheology measurements by the U.S. Department of Energy , Office of Science , Basic Energy Sciences , Materials Sciences and Engineering Division . NMR experiments were performed at EMSL, a DOE Office of Science user facility sponsored by the DOE BER and located at PNNL. We also thank Huntsman Corporation for providing us Jeffamine ® .

Keywords

  • Conductivity
  • Mechanical robustness
  • Poly(ethylene oxide)
  • Polymer electrolyte
  • Sodium-ion battery

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