Novel cellulose reinforcement for polymer electrolyte membranes with outstanding mechanical properties

UV-cured Al2O3-laden cellulose reinforced polymer electrolyte membranes for Li-based batteries

“…Cellulose reinforced polymer electrolyte membranes have already been proposed in literature [16,18,19] and it has been shown that the use of such reinforcement can increase the flexibility and mechanical resistance of a UV cured plasticized polymer electrolyte A C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P T membranes, but, when cellulose is used in the form of handsheet, it generally affects the ionic mobility inside the matrix. [16] According to the literature on composite polymer electrolytes and aiming to restore satisfying conductivity values, a finely designed paper handsheet containing alumina (Al 2 O 3 ) nano particles has been produced to be used as reinforcement in a UV cured plasticised polymer electrolyte membrane, being known that the addition of such fillers improves the conductivity of polymer hosts and their interfacial properties in contact with the lithium electrode.…”

“…Fibers derived from these two types of wood exhibit different morphological and physical properties, giving the possibility to fine tune the final requisites by simply adjusting the ratio in the final composition. [32,33] According to previous studies, [16] the best combination of fibres for the envisaged application comprises 60% of HW and 40% of SW. In this work SW40-0 will be the pristine sample, not loaded with Al 2 O 3 nanopaticles, while SW40-5, 10, 15 are the cellulose handsheets loaded with 5, 10 and 15%wt respectively of ceramic filler.…”

“…[12,13] When the production of a gel polymer electrolyte is envisaged a proper organic solution containing the lithium salt can be directly added to the UV-reactive formulation leading in few minutes to the production of a membrane ready to be used. [14][15][16][17] In order to enhance the mechanical stability and handability of the electrolyte membranes, both envisaging fast production processes (meaning high stresses) and applications in flexible batteries, paper can be used as reinforcement just by impregnating an appropriately prepared cellulose handsheet with a UV curable formulation.…”

“…The use of cellulose handsheets as reinforcing agent aims to improve the mechanical properties which in turn lead to the possibility of creating highly flexible and self-standing plasticised electrolytes, [16] therefore the mechanical behaviour of the handsheets was first evaluated, an overview of the properties is reported in Table 1.…”

“…[16] According to the literature on composite polymer electrolytes and aiming to restore satisfying conductivity values, a finely designed paper handsheet containing alumina (Al 2 O 3 ) nano particles has been produced to be used as reinforcement in a UV cured plasticised polymer electrolyte membrane, being known that the addition of such fillers improves the conductivity of polymer hosts and their interfacial properties in contact with the lithium electrode. [20,[21][22][23][24][25][26][27] The production process of nanoparticles-laden handsheets is well known in papermaking industry where commercial papers are generally produced by adding to the cellulose fibres a large variety of additives, with the aim of modifying the bulk properties, tuning surface properties or giving processing aids (e.g., calcium carbonate particles due to their special white colour are added to make bright and smooth opaque paper [28]).…”