High performance disulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone)/poly(ethylene oxide) composite membrane used as a novel separator for supercapacitor with neutral electrolyte and activated carbon electrodes

Abstract

High performance disulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone)/poly(ethylene oxide) (SPAES/PEO) composite membranes were prepared by a simple method such as a novel separator saturated by the lithium sulfate (Li2SO4) aqueous electrolyte for application in supercapacitors (SCs). As prepared composite membranes exhibit excellent mechanical properties and thermal stabilities, which are beneficial for the safety in potential applications, meanwhile, the addition of PEO on membrane also enhanced the affinity with electrolyte and the ion conduction for lithium salts. In addition, the SC cell was fabricated with optimized SPAES/PEO composite membrane and activated carbon electrodes with Li2SO4 aqueous electrolyte. The obtained SC with the SPAES/PEO separator revealed a specific capacitance of 142.5 F g−1 at a current density of 0.1 A g−1. Furthermore, the energy density of the SC was promoted to 19.04 Wh kg−1 due to the wide working voltage range of the neutral electrolyte, and the SC exhibited an excellent coulombic efficiency of almost 99% and nearly 100% cycling retention after 5000 galvanostatic charge/discharge cycles. All of these results indicated that SPAES/PEO composite membrane is suitable as a novel separator for SC.

Fabrication of high-performance ultrafiltration membranes using zwitterionic carbon nanotubes and polyethersulfone

“…These include blending amphiphilic copolymers 12,13 or nanofillers, 14,15 surface coating, 16 surface grafting, 9,17, and bulk modification. 18,19 But, these methods have their own problems; for example, bulk modification destroys the mechanical properties of the membrane, whereas surface modification often reduces the pore size of the membrane surface, causing serious flux attenuation. Under these circumstances, fabrication of nanocomposite membranes, by incorporating inorganic nanomaterials into polymer membranes, is found to be a feasible method.…”

Advances in materials and fabrication of separators in supercapacitors

“…Di-sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) (SPAES)/ PEO composite separator membrane was employed along with a neutral aqueous lithium sulphate (Li 2 SO 4 ) electrolyte with varying mass fraction of PEO (10 wt.% to 60 wt.%). 55 The SC having a SPAES/ PEO -50 wt.% separator membrane exhibited a high energy density of 19.04 Wh/kg at a current density of 0.1 A/g which was attributed to the wide operating voltage range of Li 2 SO 4 (2.2 V) (Table 3). The electrolyte uptake of SPAES/ PEO composite membrane (161 % in the SPAES/PEO -60 wt.% separator membrane) increased while mechanical properties such as tensile strength and 'elongation at break' decreased with increasing concentration of PEO in the composite membrane (Table 1).…”

Separator Design for High-Performance Supercapacitors: Requirements, Challenges, Strategies, and Prospects

“…PP-based separators prepared by the dry stretching, nonwoven, or phase separation process usually have high mechanical strength and are commonly used in conventional aqueous SCs. − The PP separator produced by the dry stretching process showed similar electrochemical performance as the TF40-30 separator in pouch cell SCs . The nonwoven PP separator showed a lower self-discharge rate and higher specific capacity than the TF40-30 separator in hybrid battery SCs .…”