Functionalized polypropylene separator coated with polyether/polyester blend for high-performance lithium metal batteries

Abstract

Commercial polyolefin separators used in lithium metal batteries (LMBs) have the disadvantages of insufficient thermal stability and poor wettability with electrolytes, which causes bad safety and battery performance. Poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL)-based electrolytes have drawn widespread attention in the field of polymer electrolytes owing to their electrochemical stability and high lithium-ion transference number. This work proposes a strategy of functionalizing commercial polypropylene (PP) separator coated by blending PCL (M_w ~ 50,000) and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO, M_V ~ 600,000). Compared to commercial PP separators, PP-blended PEO_60w/PCL_5w separators possess better wettability with electrolytes and electrochemical performances. The initial discharge specific capacity of LiFePO₄-based LMBs assembled with PP-blended PEO_60w/PCL_5w separators reaches 144 mAh g^-1 (1C) and 103 mAh g^-1 (5C) at room temperature, respectively. Notably, Li/PP-blended PEO_60w/PCL_5w/LiFePO₄ shows an improved capacity retention rate of 77% after 800 cycles, confirming that the functionalized separator with coated PEO/PCL blend has great potential for application in the field of LMBs.

Keywords

Lithium metal batteries / polyolefin separators / polymer blend / coating / battery performance

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