Electrospun Separator for Structural Battery Applications

• Main Author: Keaswejjareansuk, Wisawat
• Other Authors: Danielle Cote, Committee Member
• Format: Others
• Published: Digital WPI 2019
• Subjects: electrospinning; fiber; lithium-ion battery; separator; structural battery
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.wpi.edu/etd-dissertations/521; https://digitalcommons.wpi.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1520&context=etd-dissertations

Lithium-ion battery (LIB) is widely utilized in many modern applications as energy sources. Numerous efforts have been dedicated to increasing electrochemical performances, but improvement on battery safety remains a visible challenge. While new electrode materials have been developed, advancement in new separator for LIB has remained relatively slow. Separator is the polymeric porous material that physically separates electrodes and allows free flow of ions through its structure. It is electrochemically inactive but essential for avoiding thermal runaway conditions. Besides its crucial functions, separator has been known as the mechanically weakest component. Structural battery is a new approach that employs multifunctional material concept to use LIB as load-bearing material to minimize the weight of the complete system and maximize the efficiency. Separator materials are required to have good thermal stability, battery chemistry, and mechanical performance. This work aims at creating electrospun membranes with improved thermal resistance, structural integrity and moderate ionic conductivity as the next generation LIB separators. Electrospinning process is known as a versatile and straightforward technique to fabricate continuous fibers at nano- and micro- scales. The electrospinning process employs an electrostatic force to control the production of fibers from polymer solutions. Solution and process parameters, including type of polymer and solvent system, concentration of polymer solution, acceleration voltage, and solution feed rate, have been studied to achieve the desirable membrane properties. In this report, the electrospinning parameters affecting morphology and corresponding properties of electrospun membranes, electrospun polymer composite and polymer-metal oxide composite membranes for structural battery applications will be discussed.