Issue 23, 2022

Self-healable dynamic poly(urea-urethane) gel electrolyte for lithium batteries

Abstract

Self-healing materials are actively studied in order to extend the lifetime and performance of batteries. Dynamic covalent networks have recently emerged as one of the best self-healable materials which allow thermosets to be reprocessed and recycled. Among all the different exchangeable bonds studied over the last few years, hindered urea bonds appear to be one of the most feasible options to create self-healable materials due to their exchange activation at low temperatures. Although this chemistry is very popular in composite and coating applications, it has not been considered for designing self-healable materials for batteries. In this work we synthesize a membrane containing dynamic hindered urea crosslinking points by reacting tris[2-(isopropylamino)ethyl]amine with hexamethylene diisocyanate, followed by the addition of polyethylene glycol. It is proved that this newly designed material possesses self-healable properties and higher ionic conductivity than the commercially available liquid electrolyte embedded in a porous CelgardĀ® 2500 separator. The polyurethane gel electrolyte shows very homogeneous Li plating and stripping in Li symmetrical cells and is also compatible with Li-mediated electrochemical ammonia synthesis approaches. Most importantly, after severely mechanically damaging the gel membrane, the polymer electrolyte shows great recovery of the electrochemical properties, experiencing more than 100 charge/discharge cycles (after cutting) at C/5 rate.

Graphical abstract: Self-healable dynamic poly(urea-urethane) gel electrolyte for lithium batteries

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
21 Mar 2022
Accepted
09 May 2022
First published
31 May 2022
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2022,10, 12588-12596

Self-healable dynamic poly(urea-urethane) gel electrolyte for lithium batteries

F. Elizalde, J. Amici, S. Trano, G. Vozzolo, R. Aguirresarobe, D. Versaci, S. Bodoardo, D. Mecerreyes, H. Sardon and F. Bella, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2022, 10, 12588 DOI: 10.1039/D2TA02239G

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