posted on 2021-01-04, 16:07authored byMarta Alvarez Tirado, Laurent Castro, Gregorio Guzmán-González, Luca Porcarelli, David Mecerreyes
Lithium–O2 batteries represent one of the most
appealing candidates for battery electric vehicles because of their
remarkable theoretical high energy density, similar to fossil fuels.
Solid polymer electrolytes represent a plausible solution to tackle
some of the challenges associated with conventional liquid-based Li–O2 batteries, including safety concerns. Herein, cross-linked
robust gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) based on poly(ethylene glycol)
dimethacrylate and tetraethylene glycol dimethyl ether as a plasticizer
are prepared by rapid UV-photopolymerization. Both types of robust
GPEs presented high ionic conductivity at room temperature (1.6 ×
10–4 and 1.4 × 10–3 S·cm–1 for single ion or dual ion, respectively). Both types
of GPEs, single-ion and dual-ion lithium conductors, have been compared
for the first time on Li–O2 cells. First, their
performance was investigated in symmetrical Li|Li cells. In this case,
the dual-ion GPE showed outstanding behavior where the overpotential
was <0.2 V versus Li0/Li+ for more than 40
h at a current density as high as ±1 mA·cm–2. On the other hand, in the full Li–O2 configuration,
the single-ion GPE cell showed superior discharge capacity, up to
2.38 mA·h·cm–2. Here, a dynamic discharge
characterization technique is proposed as a method for evaluating
the polarization effect in electrolytes during discharge in an easy,
quantifiable, and reproducible manner.