A series of new self-standing gel polymer electrolytes (SGPEs) were fabricated by ultraviolet (UV) curing and investigated for application in flexible lithium-ion batteries. Compared with traditional gel polymer electrolytes (combine with solvents or plasticizers), these new SGPEs were prepared simply by curing different weight ratios of lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (LiFSI) with a methacrylic linear monomer, poly (ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate (PEGDMA). Noticeably, there were no solvents or plasticizers combined with the final SGPEs. Owing to this, the SGPEs showed high flexibility and strong mechanical stability. Some paramount physicochemical and electrochemical characters were observed. The SGPEs demonstrated good thermal stability below 150 °C and an extremely low glass transition temperature (Tg) (around -75 °C). Moreover, plastic crystal behaviors were also identified in this study. Ultimately, the SGPEs demonstrated excellent ionic conductivity at room temperature, which proves that these new SGPEs could be widely applied as a prospective electrolyte in flexible lithium-ion batteries.
Keywords: UV curing; gel polymer electrolytes; lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide; room temperature ionic conductivity.