Ut-battelle, Inc.

Xi Chen

Nancy Johnston Dudney

Sergiy Kalnaus

Andrew S Westover

Yiman Zhang

Max J Palmer

An improved gel composite electrolyte membrane and a method of its manufacture are provided. The method includes mixing polymer precursors, a lithium salt, and a ceramic filler in a vessel to form a mixture. The mixture is cast on a preheated substrate and cured to form a crosslinked composite electrolyte membrane. The composite electrolyte membrane is plasticized by immersing the composite electrolyte in a plasticizer to obtain a gel composite electrolyte membrane. The addition of a plasticizer and a ceramic filler synergistically and simultaneously act to improve the Litransference number and Liconductivity of the resulting composite electrolyte, exhibiting high ionic conductivity and mechanical stability as well improved cycling performance. The gel composite electrolyte membrane is particularly suitable for, but not limited to, lithium metal batteries.

Gel composite electrolyte membrane for lithium metal batteries

A method for manufacturing an improved thin film composite solid electrolyte is provided. The method includes spray coating an aqueous suspension of ceramic particles onto a substrate to form a ceramic thin film. The film is sintered to form a porous ceramic structure having an interconnected necked morphology that defines cavities. The cavities are backfilled with an polymer electrolyte, for example a crosslinkable poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-based polymer electrolyte. The resulting thin film composite solid electrolyte is highly ionically conductive and mechanically robust with good manufacturability, particularly suitable for, but not limited to lithium metal batteries. The present method represents a departure from conventional mixing-then-casting methods and instead includes the fabrication of a solid electrolyte having a high ceramic volume fraction, high ionic conductivity, low thickness, and good chemical stability with metallic lithium.

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Oak Ridge, TN, United States of America

Xi Chen