Novel zinc ion conducting polymer gel electrolytes based on ionic liquids

We report novel zinc ion conducting polymer gel electrolytes (PGEs) based on non-volatile room temperature ionic liquids. The PGEs consist of an ionic liquid, with a zinc salt dissolved in it, blended with a polymer matrix, poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP). The resultant electrolyte membranes are freestanding, translucent, flexible and elastic, with excellent mechanical integrity and strength. They possess exceptional thermal stability, exhibit essentially no weight loss under dynamic vacuum or upon heating to 200 °C, and remain the same gel phase in wide temperature ranges, with ionic conductivities on the order of 10⁻³ S/cm at room temperature, 10⁻⁴ S/cm at −20 °C and 4–5 × 10⁻³ S/cm at 80 °C. Electrochemical tests show that zinc ions are mobile in the membranes and zinc metal is capable of dissolution into and deposition from the membranes. The membranes also exhibit wide electrochemical stability windows. The results of this study demonstrate the promise of developing PGEs based on ionic liquids for potential application in next-generation non-aqueous zinc battery systems.     

Effect of solvents on properties of polymer gel-electrolyte based on polyester diacrylate

New polymer gel electrolytes based on polyester diacrylates and LiClO₄ salt solutions in organic solvents are developed for lithium ion and lithium polymer batteries with a high ionic conductivity up to 2.7 × 10^?3 Ohm^?1cm^?1 at the room temperature. To choose the optimum liquid electrolyte composition, the dependence is studied of physico-chemical parameters of new gel electrolytes on the composition of the mixture of aprotic organic solvents: ethylene carbonate, propylene carbonate, and λ-butyrolacton. The bulk conductivity of gel electrolytes and exchange currents at the gel electrolyte/Li interface are studied using the electrochemical impedance method in symmetrical cells with two Li electrodes. The glass transition temperature and gel homogeneity are determined using the method of differential scanning calorimetry. It is found that the optimum mixture is that of propylene carbonate and λ-butyrolacton, in which a homogeneous polymer gel is formed in a wide temperature range of ?150 to +50°C.     

Polymer gel electrolytes based on oligomeric polyether/cross-linked PMMA blends prepared via in situ polymerization

Very-low-vapor-pressure oligomeric polyether electrolytes blended with and dimensionally stabilized by cross-linked poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) are prepared via in situ polymerization. The synthesized polymer gel electrolytes (PGEs) are freestanding films with excellent dimensional stability, mechanical integrity and strength. They exhibit high ionic conductivity at room temperature reaching 4.3 × 10⁻⁴ S/cm for the highest conducting sample and exceptional thermal stability. The oligomeric polyether and PMMA appear to have molecular level interaction in the blends and the PGEs remain a single phase from at least −50 to 200 °C, potentially enabling their application in advanced batteries in wide temperature ranges. The novel in situ polymerization process allows precise control of the composition of the PGEs and can enable in situ fabrication of advanced cells.     

Boron-incorporated Sulfonated polysulfone/polyphosphoric acid electrolytes for supercapacitor application

In the present work, boron-doped multicomponent gel polymer electrolytes composed of host polymer, sulfonated polysulfone (SPSU) and the additives; ionic liquid, 1-ethyl-3-methyl-imidazolium tetrafluoroborate (IL), H₃BO₃, polyphosphoric acid (PPA) were prepared. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) techniques were used to characterize the sulfonated polysulfone-based electrolytes. Ion conductivity of these gel electrolytes were studied by dielectric impedance analyzer within the temperature from ?20 to 100°C. The ionic conductivity of the SPSU-5IL-1PPA and SPSU-5IL-1H₃BO₃-1PPA were measured as 4.8 × 10^?3 and 9 × 10^?4 S cm^?1, respectively. Supercapacitor having activated carbon-based composite electrode and electrolyte was constructed with the configuration: Al/C/electrolyte/C/Al. The electrochemical properties and ion transfer characteristics of the supercapacitor were investigated by the cyclic voltammetry (CV). Galvanostatic charge—discharge experiments exhibited good electrochemical reversibility and produced a specific capacitance value of 120 F g^?1 at 1 A g^?1. The symmetric supercapacitor system was retained almost 85% of its initial activity after 1000 cycle.     

A Simple Route to Produce Highly Efficient Porous Carbons Recycled from Tea Waste for High-Performance Symmetric Supercapacitor Electrodes

High-performance porous carbons derived from tea waste were prepared by hydrothermal treatment, combined together with KOH activation. The heat-treatment-processed materials possess an abundant hierarchical structure, with a large specific surface of 2235 m² g⁻¹ and wetting-complemental hydrophilicity for electrolytes. In a two-electrode system, the porous carbon electrodes’ built-in supercapacitor exhibited a high specific capacitance of 256 F g⁻¹ at 0.05 A g⁻¹, an excellent capacitance retention of 95.4% after 10,000 cycles, and a low leakage current of 0.014 mA. In our work, the collective results present that the precursor crafted from the tea waste can be a promising strategy to prepare valuable electrodes for high-performance supercapacitors, which offers a practical strategy to recycle biowastes into manufactured materials in energy storage applications.     

季铵盐改性氧化石墨烯的制备及其性能研究

本论文采用改进的Hummers法制备了氧化石墨烯(GO),并将氧化石墨烯用十二烷基二甲基苄基氯化铵(1227)进行修饰,得到1227非共价改性的氧化石墨烯(GO-1227)。用拉曼光谱、漫反射红外光谱分析、X-射线光电子表面能谱技术表征了其化学结构;用X-射线衍射分析、扫描电子显微镜与透射电子显微镜观察了其剥离情况和微观形貌;分析了它们在不同溶剂中的分散性。结果表明,季铵盐改性后,1227阳离子通过静电作用插入到GO片层之间,使GO片层进一步剥离,且在极性较弱的有机溶剂中的溶解性增加。热失重分析表明,GO-1227的初始分解温度提高了约70℃。将GO-1227与聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯与苯乙烯的嵌段共聚物(PMMA-b-PS)凝胶聚电解质复合,制备了纳米复合凝胶聚合物电解质(NGPE),并用交流阻抗法测试其电性能,发现占聚电解质总质量2‰的GO-1227可以将其离子电导率提高8.6倍。     

Thermoresponsive conductivity of poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide)/potassium chloride gel electrolytes

A series of thermoresponsive polymer gel electrolytes (PGEs) based on poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) in aqueous potassium chloride was synthesized by radiation‐induced polymerization and gelation using γ rays from a ⁶⁰Co source. The electric conductivity and swelling properties of the PGE were determined as a function of temperature. It was found that the electric conductivity of the PGE depended strongly on the swelling ratio; most notably, it changed drastically near the volume phase‐transition temperature of the PGE. The temperature/conductivity profile of the PGE exhibits a maximum peak at a certain temperature that is defined as the maximum conductivity temperature (T_max). The T_max of all of the PGEs prepared by low‐dose irradiation agreed with the temperature, near the end of the volume phase transition, where the PGE was completely shrunken. Consequently, the conductivity of gels should provide a good method with which the totally shrunken temperature of the thermoresponsive gels can be monitored with good temperature precision. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 40: 134–141, 2002     

Preparation and ionic conductivities of the plasticized polymer electrolytes based on poly(methyl methacrylate-co-alkali metal methacrylate)

Ionic conductivities of the polymer electrolytes prepared from the ionomer (poly(methyl methacrylate-co-alkali metal methacrylate)), lithium perchlorate, and ethylene carbonate as a plasticizer, were studied as a function of the ion content and the alkali-metal cation of the ionomer. It was possible to obtain tough films with room-temperature ionic conductivities of ∼ 10^-3 S/cm. The maximum ion conductivities of the polymer electrolytes were obtained at the ion content of 5 mol % for both Li and Na ionomer. The effects of the ion content of the ionomer on the ionic conductivities of the polymer electrolytes were mainly interpreted in terms of the characteristics of the ion aggregate formed in the polymer electrolytes. The thermal dependence of the ionic conductivity was shown to be a non-VTF pattern in some of the polymer electrolytes investigated, which is expected to be due to the presence of the ion aggregate. © John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

表面改性纳米SiO2复合聚合物电解质的制备及性能

通过化学方法将具有增塑效果的环状碳酸酯基团引入纳米SiO2表面,并用FTIR与TGA对改性纳米SiO2进行了表征.将改性纳米SiO2添加到以聚氧化乙烯(PEO)为基体的聚合物电解质中,制备了复合聚合物电解质.通过DSC和交流阻抗等方法对该聚合物电解质膜的热力学和电化学性能进行了研究.结果表明,掺杂改性纳米SiO2的聚合物电解质具有更高的离子电导率,室温最高离子电导率可达到1.84×10-5 S/cm;具有较高的锂离子迁移数,最高可达到0.49,且具有更好的界面稳定性.     

离子液体凝胶聚合物电解质的三元组分相互作用研究

采用Raman光谱、傅里叶转换红外光谱和X-射线衍射光谱研究N-甲基-N-丙基哌啶双三氟甲磺酸亚胺离子液体（PP13TFSI）和双三氟甲磺酸亚胺锂盐（LiTFSI）对PVDF-HFP聚合物聚合方式的影响,结果表明,PP13TFSI、LiTFSI和PVDF-HFP是共混存在的,同时加入PP13TFSI和LiTFSI会使聚合物的聚合方式由晶体结构转变为无定形结构. 通过对电解质及其各组分的线性扫描伏安曲线和热重曲线分析可知,溶剂N-甲基吡咯烷酮（NMP）容易残留在凝胶聚合物电解质（ILGPE）中,这会降低ILGPE的电化学稳定性和热稳定性. 作者对固态LiFePO₄|ILGPE|Li电池的倍率性能进行了研究,实验结果表明其具有较好的倍率性能,当电池倍率由C/10增大至2C,然后再回到C/10时,其容量可以恢复到原来的90.9%左右. 该研究结果对理解PP13TFSI和LiTFSI在ILGPE中的作用机理具有重要的意义.     

染料敏化太阳电池用聚合物电解质

综述了本研究小组近年来用于染料敏化太阳电池中聚合物电解质的研究概况.设计合成了几类性能优良的聚合物电解质,较好地改进了液体电解质染料敏化太阳电池(DSSC)的使用稳定性,研究结果具有实际应用的价值,并提出了此领域研究今后的发展方向.     

Novel composite polymer electrolytes based on poly(ether-urethane) network polymer and modified montmorillonite

Novel composite solid polymer electrolytes (CSPEs) and composite gel polymer electrolytes (CGPEs) have been prepared. CSPE consists of poly(ether-urethane) network polymer, which is superior to poly(ethylene oxide) in mechanical stability due to its cross-linked structure, modified montmorillonite (MMMT) and LiClO₄, and CGPE with good mechanical strength comprises of the CSPE and LiClO₄–PC (propylene carbonate) solution. The ionic conductivity can be enhanced after the addition of MMMT, and CGPE exhibits ionic conductivity in the order of 10⁻³ S/cm at room temperature. The temperature dependence of the ionic conductivity of the CSPE follows the Vogel–Tamman–Fulcher (VTF) equation. The effects of MMMT on the interactions in these systems and the possible conduction mechanisms are also discussed.     

The network gel polymer electrolyte based on poly(acrylate-co-imide) and its transport properties in lithium ion batteries

Poly (acrylate-co-imide)-based gel polymer electrolytes are synthesized by in situ free radical polymerization. Infrared spectroscopy confirms the complete polymerization of gel polymer electrolytes. The ionic conductivity of gel polymer electrolytes are measured as a function of different repeating EO units of polyacrylates. An optimal ionic conductivity of the poly (PEGMEMA₁₁₀₀-BMI) gel polymer electrolyte is determined to be 4.8 × 10^–3 S/cm at 25 °C. The lithium transference number is found to be 0.29. The cyclic voltammogram shows that the wide electrochemical stability window of the gel polymer electrolyte varies from −0.5 to 4.20 V (vs. Li/Li⁺). Furthermore, we found the transport properties of novel gel polymer electrolytes are dependent on the EO design and are also related to the rate capability and the cycling ability of lithium polymer batteries. The relationship between polymer electrolyte design, lithium transport properties and battery performance are investigated in this research.     

Enhanced electrochemical properties of a novel polyvinyl formal membrane supporting gel polymer electrolyte by Al2O3 modification

Polyvinyl formal (PVFM)‐based dense polymer membranes with nano‐Al₂O₃ doping are prepared via phase inversion method. The membranes and also their performances as gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) for lithium ion battery are studied by field emission scanning electron microscope, X‐ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, mechanical strength test, electrolyte uptake test, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and charge–discharge test. The polymer membrane with 3 wt % nano‐Al₂O₃ doping shows the improved mechanical strength of 12.16 MPa and electrolyte uptake of 431.25% compared with 10.47 MPa and 310.59% of the undoped sample, respectively. The membrane absorbs and swells liquid electrolyte to form stable GPE with ionic conductivity of 4.92 × 10^?4 S cm^?1 at room temperature, which is higher than 1.77 × 10^?4 S cm^?1 of GPE from the undoped membrane. Moreover, the Al₂O₃‐modified membrane supporting GPE exhibits wide electrochemical stability window of 1.2–4.8 V (vs. Li/Li⁺) and good compatibility with LiFePO₄ electrode, which implies Al₂O₃‐modified PVFM‐based GPE to be a promising candidate for lithium ion batteries. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci. Part B: Polym. Phys. 2014 , 52, 572–577     

Cross-linking copolymers of acrylates’ gel electrolytes with high conductivity for lithium-ion batteries

The cross-linking gel copolymer electrolytes containing alkyl acrylates, triethylene glycol dimethacrylate, and liquid electrolyte were prepared by in situ thermal polymerization. The gel polymer electrolytes containing 15 wt% polymer content and 85 wt% liquid electrolyte content with sufficient mechanical strength showed the high ionic conductivity around 5?×?10^?3 Scm^?1 at room temperature. The gel electrolytes containing different polymer matrices were prepared, and their physical observation and conductivity were discussed carefully. The cross-linking copolymer gel electrolytes of alkyl acrylates with other monomers were designed and synthesized. The results showed that copolymerization can improve the mechanical properties and ionic conductivities of the gel electrolytes. The polymer matrices of gels had excellent thermal stability and electrochemical stability. The scanning electron microscope analysis showed the gel electrolyte was the homogeneous structure, and the cross-linking polymer host was the porous three-dimensional network structure, which demonstrated the high conductivity of the gel electrolytes. The gel polymer Li-ion battery was prepared by this in situ thermal polymerization. The cell exhibited high charge-discharge efficiency at 0.1 C. The results of LiFePO4-PEA-Li cell and graphite-PEA-Li cell showed that gel polymer electrolytes have good compatibility with the battery electrodes materials.     

Polyacrylonitrile–lithium bis(oxalato) borate polymer electrolyte for electrical double layer capacitors

Lithium ion conducting polymer electrolytes based on polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and lithium bis(oxalato)borate (LiBOB) have been prepared and characterized. The polymer electrolytes having PAN:LiBOB weight ratios of 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 60:40 and 50:50 were prepared using dimethylformamide as solvent. The electrolyte having the composition 50 wt.% PAN–50 wt.% LiBOB shows the highest room temperature conductivity of 2.55 × 10^?5 S cm^?1. This sample demonstrated a lithium ion transference number of 0.25 and a breakdown voltage of 1.6 V. The highest conducting electrolyte was then sandwiched between two symmetrical carbon electrodes to fabricate an electrical double layer capacitor (EDLC). The EDLCs were characterized using impedance measurement, cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge–discharge tests. The capacitance obtained from impedance measurement is about 35 F g^?1 at frequency 10 mHz. From CV, the capacitance is calculated to be 24 F g^?1 at 10 mV s^?1 scan rate. The discharge capacitance of the EDLCs is determined in the range from 22 to 10 F g^?1 at corresponding discharge currents from 0.2 to 1.5 mA, respectively. This also corresponds to a specific energy from 3.01 to 1.47 W h kg^?1 and a specific power from 380 to 474 W kg^?1, respectively. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Intercalated Poly (2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic Acid) into Sulfonated Poly (1,4-phenylene ether-ether-sulfone) Based Proton Exchange Membrane: Improved Ionic Conductivity

A series of hybrid proton exchange membranes were synthesized via in situ polymerization of poly (2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid) PMPS with sulfonated poly (1,4-phenylene ether-ether-sulfone) (SPEES). The insertion of poly (2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid) PMPS, between the rigid skeleton of SPEES plays a reinforcing role to enhance the ionic conductivity. The synthesized polymer was chemically characterized by fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and nuclear magnetic resonance ¹H NMR spectroscopy to demonstrate the successful grafting of PMPS with the pendent polymer chain of SPEES. A variety of physicochemical properties were also investigated such as ion exchange capacity (IEC), proton conductivity, water uptake and swelling ratio to characterize the suitability of the formed polymer for various electrochemical applications. SP-PMPS-03, having the highest concentration of all PMPS, shows excellent proton conductivity of 0.089 S cm⁻¹ at 80 °C which is much higher than SPEES which is ~0.049 S cm⁻¹. Optimum water uptake and swelling ratio with high conductivity is mainly attributed to a less ordered arrangement polymer chain with high density of the functional group to facilitate ionic transport. The residual weight was 93.35, 92.44 and 89.56%, for SP-PMPS-01, 02 and 03, respectively, in tests with Fenton’s reagent after 24 h. In support of all above properties a good chemical and thermal stability was also achieved by SP-PMPS-03, owing to the durability for electrochemical application.     

PEO/LiClO_4纳米SiO_2复合聚合物电解质的电化学研究

将实验室制备的纳米二氧化硅和市售纳米二氧化硅粉末与PEO LiClO4复合 ,制得了复合PEO电解质 .它们的室温离子电导率可比未复合的PEO电解质提高 1～ 2个数量级 ,最高可以达到 1 2 4× 10 - 5S cm .离子电导率的提高有两方面的原因 :一是无机二氧化硅粉末的加入抑制了PEO的结晶 ,是二氧化硅粉末和聚合物电解质之间形成的界面对电导率的提高也有一定的作用 .在进一步加入PC EC(碳酸丙烯酯 碳酸乙烯酯 )混合增塑剂后制得的复合凝胶PEO电解质 ,可使室温离子电导率再提高 2个数量 ,达到 2× 10 - 3 S cm .用这种复合凝胶PEO电解质组装了Li|compositegelelectrolyte|Li半电池 ,并测量了该半电池的交流阻抗谱图随组装后保持时间的变化 ,实验观察到在保持时间为 144h以内钝化膜的交流阻抗迅速增大 ,但在随后的时间内逐渐趋于平稳 ,表明二氧化硅粉末的加入可以有效地抑制钝化膜的生长     

Preparation and Electrochemical Performance of Three-Dimensional Vertically Aligned Graphene by Unidirectional Freezing Method

Three-dimensional vertically aligned graphene (3DVAG) was prepared by a unidirectional freezing method, and its electrochemical performances were evaluated as electrode materials for zinc−ion hybrid supercapacitors (ZHSCs). The prepared 3DVAG has a vertically ordered channel structure with a diameter of about 20−30 μm and a length stretching about hundreds of microns. Compared with the random structure of reduced graphene oxide (3DrGO), the vertical structure of 3DVAG in a three−electrode system showed higher specific capacitance, faster ion diffusion, and better rate performance. The specific capacitance of 3DVAG reached 66.6 F·g⁻¹ and the rate performance reached 92.2%. The constructed 3DVAG zinc−ion hybrid supercapacitor also showed excellent electrochemical performance. It showed good capacitance retention up to 94.6% after 3000 cycles at the current density of 2 A·g⁻¹.     

Graphene Oxide Modified Chemically Activated Graphite Electrodes for Detection of microRNA

In our study, graphene oxide (GO) modified graphite electrodes were used for sensitive and selective impedimetric detection of miRNA. After chemical activation of pencil graphite electrode (PGE) surface using covalent agents (CA), GO modification was performed at the surface of chemically activated PGE. Then, CA‐GO‐PGEs were applied for impedimetric miRNA detection. The microscopic and electrochemical characterization of CA‐GO‐PGEs was performed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The optimization of experimental conditions; such as GO concentration, DNA probe concentration and miRNA target concentration was performed by using EIS technique. After the hybridization occurred between miRNA‐34a RNA target and its complementary DNA probe, the hybrid was immobilized onto the surface of CA‐GO‐PGEs. Then, the impedimetric detection of miRNA‐DNA hybridization was performed by EIS. The selectivity of our assay was also tested under the optimum experimental conditions.