ε-Caprolactone-based solid polymer electrolytes for lithium-ion batteries: synthesis, electrochemical characterization and mechanical stabilization by block copolymerization

Abstract

Three different polymers were synthesized and evaluated as solid polymer electrolytes: poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL), polystyrene-poly(ε-caprolactone) (SC), and polystyrene-poly(ε-caprolactone-r-trimethylene carbonate) (SCT).

Mechanically Robust Yet Highly Conductive Diblock Copolymer Solid Polymer Electrolyte for Ambient Temperature Battery Applications

“…49 Despite this, little effort has been done to experimentally investigate these systematically, and the reported values are usually measured with different techniques or experimental conditions, making the comparison between them very difficult. Nevertheless, a simple comparison would be between BCT17 (9.1×10 −6 S cm −1 and 10 8 Pa at 30 °C) and the ionic conductivity of 80:20 PCL-PTMC polymer with 28 wt% LiTFSI (2.5×10 −5 S cm −1 at 30 °C) and the mechanical properties of polystyrene (3×10 8 Pa at 30 °C) 29 (Figure 4). These results suggest, once again, that both properties are decoupled in BCT17.…”

Simultaneous Improvement of Ionic Conductivity and Mechanical Strength in Block Copolymer Electrolytes with Double Conductive Nanophases

“…[ 3,4 ] For instance, microphase‐separated block copolymer (BCP) electrolyte, containing both ion‐conducting microdomain and mechanically robust microdomain, is one of the most promising lines of investigation. [ 5–8 ] In addition, the coordination of lithium salts with the solvating blocks (e.g., poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)) can change the overall BCP self‐assembly morphology such as spheres, hexagonally packed cylinders (Hex), bicontinuous gyroid or lamellae (Lam), resulting in the corresponding change of ionic conductivity and mechanical properties of the BCP electrolytes. In addition to the self‐assembly morphology, the ionic conductivity is thought to be affected by the domain boundaries between the microphase separated domains and the bending/torsion of the ion‐conducting microdomain.…”

“…As compared to the PEO/LiTFSI electrolyte, the higher storage modulus of the microphase‐separated PPMTC n ‐ b ‐PEO 44 /LiTFSI electrolytes is the cooperative result of introduction of PPMTC block and microphase separation. However, when compared to the PS‐ b ‐PEO/salt electrolytes [ 9,16,17 ] (≈10 7 Pa, 30 °C; ≈10 4 Pa, 90 °C) or other systems [ 8 ] (≈10 6 Pa, 30 °C) with a single conductive phase, the storage modulus of PPMTC n ‐ b ‐PEO 44 /LiTFSI electrolytes is still lower (≈10 5 Pa at 30 °C and ≈10 4 Pa at 90 °C) because of the rubbery state of PPMTC block at room temperature.…”

Self-assembly of cholesterol end-capped polymer micelles for controlled drug delivery

“…The reaction mixture was heated at 60 °C for 24 h with monitoring the reaction progress by NMR. After reaction, the mixture firstly was quenched with acetone, before filtered through a silica gel column followed by the basic Al 2 O 3 column to remove excess copper elements as previously done [43,44]. The final product was precipitated in diethyl ether before vacuum drying.…”