Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) play a pivotal role as essential components in various applications, including mobile devices, energy storage power supplies, and electric vehicles. The widespread utilization of LIBs underscores their significance in the field of energy storage. High-performance LIBs should exhibit two key characteristics that have been persistently sought: high energy density and safety. The separator, a critical part of LIBs, is of paramount importance in ensuring battery safety, thus requiring its high thermal stability and uniform nanochannels. Here, the novel ion-track etched polyethylene terephthalate (ITE PET) separator is controllably fabricated with ion irradiation technology. Unlike conventional polypropylene (PP) separators, the ITE PET separator demonstrated vertically aligned nanochannels with uniform channel size and distribution. The remarkable characteristics of the ITE PET separator include not only high electrolyte wettability but also exceptional thermal stability, capable of withstanding temperatures as high as 180 °C. Furthermore, the ITE PET separator exhibits a higher lithium-ion transfer number (0.59), which is advantageous in enhancing battery performance. The structural and inherent advantages of ITE PET separators contribute to enhance the C-rate capacity, electrochemical, and long-term cycling (300 cycles) stability observed in the corresponding batteries. The newly developed method for fabricating ITE PET separators, which possess high thermal stability and a uniform channel structure, fulfills the demand for high-temperature-resistant separators without requiring any modification procedures. Moreover, this method can be easily scaled up using simple processes, making it a competitive strategy for producing thermotolerant separators.
Keywords: ion irradiation; lithium separator; lithium-ion battery (LIB); thermal stability; vertical channels.