Ambient temperature hybrid polymer electrolyte based on PVK plus PVDF-HFP(co-polymer) for lithium batteries

Proposed herein is a new ambient temperature Li+ conducting PVDF-HFP-co-polymer based hybrid polymer electrolyte with polyvinyl carbozole (PVK) as additive. The addition of the latter provides high ambient temperature electrolytic conductivity (sigma(i)) 0.7 x 10(-3)S/cm with an ionic transference number of 0.6, besides providing the thermoplastic flexibility to the whole matrix. The membrane is found to exhibit a wide electrochemical potential window, >4.5V against Li/Li+. When prepared properly, the membrane is dry and free standing, yet totally suitable for lithium polymer rechargeable batteries. This paper presents the preparation, microstructure and electrochemical characteristics of this new hybrid polymeric membrane. Finally, the dry polymeric electrolyte membrane has been employed in a lithium polymer cell against LT-LiCo0.8Ni0.2O2 as positive electrode and its interfacial behavior and electrochemical cycling results are presented.