A novel modified PP separator by grafting PAN for high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries

A novel modified separator was synthesized with an ultraviolet irradiated polypropylene (PP) membrane and acrylonitrile monomers by a solution grafting reaction. It was demonstrated that polyacrylonitrile (PAN) was grafted on the PP separator surface by analyzing the results of FESEM, ATR-FTIR and XPS. The thermostability and wettability of the PAN-grafted PP (PP-g-PAN) separator were enhanced. Then, Li-S batteries were assembled using the modified separators. The cycling and rate capacity performance is improved clearly because of the higher liquid uptake, smaller porous size, better polysulfides absorption effect and interfacial affinity of the grafted separator. The modified separator can hinder the movement of Li2Sx effectively to prevent the shuttle effect of a Li-S battery. Therefore, this efficient method has great potential to be applied to the modification of other kinds of polymer membranes.