A high-safety PVDF/Al2O3 composite separator for Li-ion batteries via tip-induced electrospinning and dip-coating

Dezhi Wu; Lei Deng; Yu Sun; Kwok Siong Teh; Chuan Shi; Qiulin Tan; Jinbao Zhao; Daoheng Sun; Liwei Lin

doi:10.1039/C7RA02681A

A high-safety PVDF/Al₂O₃ composite separator for Li-ion batteries via tip-induced electrospinning and dip-coating†

Dezhi Wu,

*^a Lei Deng,^b Yu Sun,^b Kwok Siong Teh,^c Chuan Shi,^d Qiulin Tan,^e Jinbao Zhao,^f Daoheng Sun^a and Liwei Lin*^ag

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Dept. of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
E-mail: wdz@xmu.edu.cn
Fax: +86 5922185927
Tel: +86 5922185927

^b School of Aerospace Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China

^c School of Engineering, San Francisco State University, San Francisco 94132, USA

^d Industrial Research Institute of Nonwovens & Technical Textiles, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China

^e Science and Technology on Electronic Test and Measurement Laboratory, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China

^f College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China

^g Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, California 94720, USA
E-mail: lwlin@berkeley.edu

Abstract

Composite membranes have been fabricated made of ultrafine PVDF fibers via a tip-induced electrospinning (TIE) process and Al₂O₃ nanoparticles via a dip-coating process. These membranes exhibit good thermal stability and electrochemical properties as the separators for applications in lithium ion batteries (LIBs). Experimental results show that the as-fabricated separators may mechanically contract less than 2% when kept at a high temperature of 140 °C for an hour showing good thermal stability as compared with commercial polypropylene separators and electrospun PVDF membranes. The membrane has a measured porosity of 55.8% and ionic conductivity of 2.23 mS cm⁻¹, achieving a low battery discharge capacity loss of 1.8% after 100 cycles in the 1.0C-rate tests, and a retention rate of 92.9% in the 4C-rate tests. These results show the great potential of PVDF/Al₂O₃ separators in LIB applications under high temperature and high current/power operations.

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Article information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C7RA02681A
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 05 Mar 2017
Accepted: 26 Apr 2017
First published: 04 May 2017
This article is Open Access

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RSC Adv., 2017,7, 24410-24416

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A high-safety PVDF/Al₂O₃ composite separator for Li-ion batteries via tip-induced electrospinning and dip-coating

D. Wu, L. Deng, Y. Sun, K. S. Teh, C. Shi, Q. Tan, J. Zhao, D. Sun and L. Lin, RSC Adv., 2017, 7, 24410 DOI: 10.1039/C7RA02681A

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