Dilithium bis[(perfluoroalkyl)sulfonyl]diimide salts as electrolytes for rechargeable lithium batteries

A series of four different dilithium salts of structure F₃CSO₂N(Li)SO₂-(CF₂)_x-SO₂N(Li)SO₂CF₃, with x = 2, 4, 6, 8 were synthesized and characterized in polyethylene-oxide-based solid polymer electrolytes. Each salt may be thought of as two bis[(perfluoroalkyl)sulfonyl]imide anions linked together by a perfluoroalkyl chain of a particular length. Taken together, this homologous series provides an opportunity to study the effects of linker chain length and degree of fluorination in dianionic (and ultimately polyanionic) salts on the properties, particularly the conductivity, of the salts in various solvating media. SPEs in polyethylene oxide were characterized using scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, ¹H and ¹⁹F NMR, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy for SPEs prepared using ethylene-oxide-oxygen-to-lithium (EO:Li) ratios of 10:1 and 30:1. Trends in SPE ionic conductivity with anion structure revealed an unexpected trend whereby ionic conductivity is generally rising with increased length of the perfluoroalkylene linking group in the dianions. This trend could be the result of a decrease in dianion basicity that results in diminished ion pairing and an enhancement in the number of charge carriers with increasing anion fluorine content, thereby increasing ionic conductivity.