Ternary composites of poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) with silver nanowires and titanium dioxide nanoparticles as separator membranes for lithium-ion batteries

S Sengupta; C R Tubio; R S Pinto; J Barbosa; M M Silva; R Gonçalves; M Kundu; S Lanceros-Mendez; C M Costa

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2024.04.149

Ternary composites of poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) with silver nanowires and titanium dioxide nanoparticles as separator membranes for lithium-ion batteries

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2024 Apr 23:668:25-36. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2024.04.149. Online ahead of print.

Authors

S Sengupta¹, C R Tubio², R S Pinto³, J Barbosa⁴, M M Silva⁴, R Gonçalves⁴, M Kundu⁵, S Lanceros-Mendez⁶, C M Costa⁷

Affiliations

¹ Electrochemial Energy Storage Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India.
² BCMaterials, Basque Center for Materials, Applications and Nanostructures, UPV/EHU Science Park, 48940 Leioa, Spain.
³ Centre of Chemistry, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal; Centre of Physics Universities of Minho and Porto, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.
⁴ Centre of Chemistry, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.
⁵ Electrochemial Energy Storage Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India; International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL), Av. Mestre Jose Veiga, 4715-330 Braga, Portugal. Electronic address: manab.kundu@inl.int.
⁶ BCMaterials, Basque Center for Materials, Applications and Nanostructures, UPV/EHU Science Park, 48940 Leioa, Spain; Centre of Physics Universities of Minho and Porto, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal; Laboratory of Physics for Materials and Emergent Technologies, LapMET, University of Minho, Braga 4710-057, Portugal; Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, 48009 Bilbao, Spain.
⁷ Centre of Physics Universities of Minho and Porto, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal; Laboratory of Physics for Materials and Emergent Technologies, LapMET, University of Minho, Braga 4710-057, Portugal; Institute of Science and Innovation for Bio-Sustainability (IB-S), University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal. Electronic address: cmscosta@fisica.uminho.pt.

PMID: 38669993
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2024.04.149

Abstract

In the realm of polymer composites, there is growing interest in the use of mora than one filler for achieving multifunctional properties. In this work, a composite separator membrane has been developed for lithium-ion battery application, by incorporating conductive silver nanowires (AgNWs) and titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanoparticles into a poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) polymer matrix. The composite membranes were manufactured by solvent casting and thermally induced phase separation, with total filler content varying up to 10 wt%. The ternary composites composites present improved mechanical characteristics, ionic conductivity and lithium transfer number compared to the neat polymer matrix. On the other hand, the filler type and content within the composite has little bearing on the morphology, polymer phase, or thermal stability. Once applied as a separator in lithium-ion batteries, the highest discharge capacity value was obtained for the 5 wt% AgNWs/5 wt% TiO₂/PVDF-HFP membrane at different C-rates, benefiting from the synergetic effect from both fillers. This work demonstrates that higher battery performance can be achieved for next-generation lithium-ion batteries by using separator membranes based on ternary composites.

Keywords: Different fillers; Lithium-ion batteries; PVDF-HFP; Separator; Ternary composites.