Explorative Approaches for Safer, Scalable, Lithium Battery Solid Electrolyte Technologies

One of the main drawbacks of commercial lithium-ion batteries is the safety issue because of the hazardous organic electrolyte compounds, especially in case of electric and/or mechanical abuse. With the aim of overcoming this limitation, two synergic approaches have been followed: i) replacement of the organic solvents with innovative, non-volatile and non-flammable fluids (ionic liquids); ii) confinement of the ionic liquid electrolytes within suitable polymeric hosts for obtaining solid-state, ionically conducting membranes. In the present work, the attention has been focused on the N1114FSI, EMIFSI and PYR14TFSI ionic liquids (combined with the LiTFSI salt), and the electro-spun PSU, PAN/PCL and PAN/PCL-OLG polymer hosts. This study presents an explorative approach for developing innovative thin-layer, solvent-free, scalable polymer electrolyte technologies from the safety and engineering points of views.