Alkaline Battery Separators with High Electrolyte Absorption from Forced Assembly Coextruded Composite Tapes

Abstract

In this work, two-component fibrous separators with high electrolyte absorption were fabricated by the delamination of oriented polymer tape which was produced using a unique coextrusion and multiplication process. Two different separators were created from polypropylene/high-density polyethylene (PP/HDPE) and polypropylene/polyamide 6 (PP/PA6) by this process. The separators have a pore size of 10 μm, high porosity, and high surface area. The electrolyte absorption (KOH uptake) of PP/HDPE separators and PP/PA6 separators are almost 3 times higher than that of commercial separators. The battery performance of the PP/HDPE separators and the PP/PA6 separators were evaluated in a coin cell battery configuration. The charge−discharge efficiency of coin cells made from the PP/PA6 separator is found to be 6% higher than the commercial separators.

Electromechanical deformation and failure of multilayered films

“…The benefits of this novel multilayering process includes flexibility, versatility, and precise control of the structural levels in addition to being solvent free and a continuous processing of materials 1,9 . The forced assembly multilayer coextrusion process enables many polymeric systems having unique architectures to be produced including multilayer films, 10 cellular film/foam materials, 11–14 and fibrous membrane systems 9,15–18 . In addition, there has been numerous studies on the multilayered coextruded polymer systems directed toward applications including gas barrier films, 8,19 optical films, 20 shape memory films, 21–24 packaging film/foams, 25 fibrous membranes for filtration, 18,26 antibacterial membranes, 27,28 cellular membranes having through pores 12 and multilayer films with unique dielectric properties 29–36 .…”

“…1,9 The forced assembly multilayer coextrusion process enables many polymeric systems having unique architectures to be produced including multilayer films, 10 cellular film/foam materials, [11][12][13][14] and fibrous membrane systems. 9,[15][16][17][18] In addition, there has been numerous studies on the multilayered coextruded polymer systems directed toward applications including gas barrier films, 8,19 optical films, 20 shape memory films, [21][22][23][24] packaging film/foams, 25 fibrous membranes for filtration, 18,26 antibacterial membranes, 27,28 cellular membranes having through pores 12 and multilayer films with unique dielectric properties. [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36] These investigations have emphasized the importance of scale within the multilayer films relative to enhanced performance characteristics.…”

Thin Film Composite Membranes as a New Category of Alkaline Water Electrolysis Membranes

“…[ 30 ] Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis also revealed that the TFC membrane started to melt at ≈120 °C and exhibited a maximum melting peak at ≈140 °C, similar to that of the PE and HPE support membranes (Figure 2i). [ 31 ] The TGA and DSC results suggest that the TFC membrane has high thermal stability that can ensure stable operation without significant thermal deformation and/or decomposition at conventional AWE operating temperatures (<100 °C).…”