posted on 2023-10-13, 20:11authored byJihong Jeong, Mideum Kim, Hyeju Shin, Hosik Lee, Yoon-Gyo Cho, Minjae Cho, Jisu Lee, Cheolhee Han, Gunyoung Kim, Hongkyung Lee, Hochun Lee, Tae-Hee Kim, Seo-Hyun Jung, Hyun-Kon Song
Herein,
we present a gel polymer electrolyte (GPE) improving nonflammability
of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) by blocking radical-initiated chain
reactions which cause thermal runaway and finally fire issues. The
polymer that makes up the nonflammable GPE was (1) soluble in carbonate
electrolytes, (2) cross-linkable in the presence of a popularly used
lithium salt such as LiPF6, (3) gelated only with 2 wt
% in electrolytes, and (4) radical-scavenging by its functional side
chains. Electrolytes having the polymer were thermally gelated within
battery cells after the cells were assembled by a conventional way.
LIB cells with the GPE were durable against external thermal and mechanical
shocks without sacrificing cell performances. The high transference
number of lithium ions and liquid-equivalent ionic conductivity of
the GPE at only 2% solid content having a stable solid-electrolyte
interphase layer formed even improved cell performances at normal
operation conditions.