Dalian University of Technology

About: Dalian University of Technology is a education organization based out in Dalian, China. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Catalysis & Finite element method. The organization has 60890 authors who have published 71921 publications receiving 1188356 citations. The organization is also known as: Dàlián Lǐgōng Dàxué.

Simultaneously Enhancing the Thermal Stability, Mechanical Modulus, and Electrochemical Performance of Solid Polymer Electrolytes by Incorporating 2D Sheets

Abstract: Lithium ion batteries are now the dominant power for electronics and will change the power supply for vehicles and help to smoothly integrate renewable energy sources such as solar and wind to grid. In lithium ion batteries with liquid electrolytes, the organic solvents are flammable and unstable at high voltage. Especially in lithium metal batteries (LMB) where lithium dendrites can grow, the solvents can be ignited once the dendrites shortcircuit with the cathodes. To meet the high energy density and safety requirement, it is desirable to develop solid state electrolytes with high stability and mechanical strength. The solid state electrolytes can be classified into two categories: inorganic electrolytes and solid polymer electrolytes (SPE). Inorganic electrolytes typically have ionic conductivity at room temperature (10−2–10−4 S cm−1) close to or even higher than liquid electrolyte. However, their stiffness and friability result in poor film processability and high interface resistance with electrodes.[1–7] SPE are composed of lithium salts dissociated in the polymer matrix in which Li+ is allowed to transport along with the segment motion of the polymer chains. As a result, SPE are stretchable and flexible, and thus compatible with the current film-based battery technology. However, the low ionic conductivity (<10−6 S cm−1) of SPE at ambient temperature and high-temperature instability restrict their wide utilization.[8–15] Great efforts have been devoted to improving the performance of SPE. Increasing the content of Li salts or decreasing the crystallinity of polymers with composite polymers or block copolymers were able to increase the ionic conductivity by orders of magnitude.[16–18] However, other properties of SPE such as the film forming property were decreased, leading to poor mechanical strength and thermal resistance. A successful strategy was rigid-flexible coupling that applied cellulose nonwoven to support the softened SPE.[11] Another widely employed approach is to add ceramic fillers which can interact with both the salt anions and the polymer segments to promote local amorphization and enhance Li+ transport.[19–24] Accordingly, the interaction can be tailored by screening fillers with Solid state electrolytes are the key components for high energy density lithium ion batteries and especially for lithium metal batteries where lithium dendrite growth is an inevitable obstacle in liquid electrolytes. Solid polymer electrolytes based on a complex of polymers and lithium salts are intrinsically advantageous over inorganic electrolytes in terms of processability and film-forming properties. But other properties such as ionic conductivity, thermal stability, mechanical modulus, and electrochemical stability need to be improved. Herein, for the first time, 2D additives using few-layer vermiculite clay sheets as an example to comprehensively upgrade poly(ethylene oxide)-based solid polymer electrolyte are introduced. With clay sheet additives, the polymer electrolyte exhibits improved thermal stability, mechanical modulus, ionic conductivity, and electrochemical stability along with reduced flammability and interface resistance. The composite polymer electrolyte can suppress the formation and growth of lithium dendrites in lithium metal batteries. It is anticipated that the clay sheets upgraded solid polymer electrolyte can be integrated to construct high performance solid state lithium ion and lithium metal batteries with higher energy and safety.

An ordered mesoporous aluminosilicate with completely crystalline zeolite wall structure.

Abstract: An ordered mesoporous aluminosilicate with completely crystalline zeolite pore wall structure, denoted as OMZ-1, was successfully synthesized by recrystallization of SBA-15 using in situ formed CMK-5 as the hard template. The role of carbon material not only serves as a hard template to preserve ordered mesoporous structure but also kinetically controls the crystallization process to form large crystals.