LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4-Hybridized Gel Polymer Cathode and Gel Polymer Electrolyte Containing a Sulfolane-Based Highly Concentrated Electrolyte for the Fabrication of a 5 V Class of Flexible Lithium Batteries

Binshen Wang; Jiali Liu; Ji-Young Ock; Ryo Motoyoshi; Shanglin Li; Kazuhide Ueno; Kaoru Dokko; Seiji Tsuzuki; Masayoshi Watanabe

doi:10.1021/acsomega.2c00861

LiNi_0.5Mn_1.5O₄-Hybridized Gel Polymer Cathode and Gel Polymer Electrolyte Containing a Sulfolane-Based Highly Concentrated Electrolyte for the Fabrication of a 5 V Class of Flexible Lithium Batteries

ACS Omega. 2022 May 12;7(21):17732-17740. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.2c00861. eCollection 2022 May 31.

Authors

Binshen Wang^{1

2}, Jiali Liu³, Ji-Young Ock², Ryo Motoyoshi², Shanglin Li², Kazuhide Ueno^{2

3}, Kaoru Dokko^{2

3}, Seiji Tsuzuki³, Masayoshi Watanabe³

Affiliations

¹ Institute of New Energy and Low-Carbon Technology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610207, People's Republic of China.
² Department of Chemistry and Life Science, Yokohama National University, 79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan.
³ Advanced Chemical Energy Research Center, Institute of Advanced Sciences, Yokohama National University, 79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan.

Abstract

The design and fabrication of lithium secondary batteries with a high energy density and shape flexibility are essential for flexible and wearable electronics. In this study, we fabricated a high-voltage (5 V class) flexible lithium polymer battery using a lithium nickel manganese oxide (LiNi_0.5Mn_1.5O₄) cathode. A LiNi_0.5Mn_1.5O₄-hybridized gel polymer cathode (GPC) and a gel polymer electrolyte (GPE) membrane, both containing a sulfolane (SL)-based highly concentrated electrolyte (HCE), enabled the fabrication of a polymer battery by simple lamination with a metallic lithium anode, where the injection of the electrolyte solution was not required. GPC with high flexibility has a hierarchically continuous three-dimensional porous architecture, which is advantageous for forming continuous ion-conduction paths. The GPE membrane has significant ionic conductivity enough for reliable capacity delivery. Therefore, the fabricated lithium polymer pouch cells demonstrated excellent capacity retention under continuous deformation conditions. This study provides a promising strategy for the fabrication of scalable and flexible 5 V class batteries using GPC and GPE containing SL-based HCE.