Influence of ionic liquid characteristics on the performance of ternary solid polymer electrolytes with poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) and zeolite

Solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) are the necessary step towards solid-state lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Their function as separator and electrolyte allows to increase the safety of energy storage devices by the elimination of the liquid components. In this work, three-component SPEs based on poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) as host polymer, clinoptilolite zeolite, and different ionic liquids (ILs) (1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium thiocyanate ([EMIM][SCN]), 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium thiocyanate ([BMIM][SCN]), 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide ([EMIM][NCN2]) and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide ([BMIM][NCN2]) were produced and characterized. The influence of the nature of the IL anion and cation on the morphology, degree of crystallinity, mechanical properties, ionic conductivity, and battery cycling performance were studied. It is demonstrated that the [SCN]- anion is the most suitable if SPE applications are envisaged. The ionic conductivity depends on the IL type. At room temperature, a maximum value of 1.3 × 10−5 S cm−1 was obtained for the SPE doped with [BMIM][NCN2]. Regarding battery performance, the best value of discharge capacity was observed for the SPE based on [BMIM][SCN], which for an initial discharge capacity of 135 mAh.g−1 yielded a capacity loss below 30% after 30 cycles at room temperature. Thus, it is concluded that proper selection of the IL (cation chain length and anion size) allows tailoring battery performance of solid-state batteries based on three-component SPEs.