A novel electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride)/thermoplastic polyurethane/poly(vinylidene fluoride)-g-(maleic anhydride) porous fibrous polymer electrolyte for lithium-ion batteries

• Prepare PVDF/TPU/PVDF-g-MA gel polymer electrolyte by electrospinning the first time.
• The PVDF-g-MA can be used as the compatibility in the blending of PVDF and TPU.
• The GPE shows a maximum ionic conductivity of 4.7 × 10− 3 S cm− 1 at room temperature.
• The PVDF/TPU/PVDF-g-MA membrane has a high tensile strength (10.3 MPa) and elongation at break (96.5%).
• The GPE is very suitable for application in polymer lithium ion batteries.

A novel gel polymer electrolyte films based on poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)/thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) with and without poly(vinylidene fluoride)-g-(maleic anhydride) (PVDF-g-MA) are prepared by electrospinning. Its morphological characteristics are observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The crystallinity of the electrospun PVDF/TPU blending membrane is found to decrease with PVDF-g-MA, which is confirmed by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The PVDF/TPU/PVDF-g-MA blending membrane has high tensile strength (10.3 MPa) and elongation at break (96.5%). The gel polymer electrolytes with PVDF-g-MA exhibits high ionic conductivity of 4.7 × 10− 3 S cm− 1 with electrochemical stability up to 5.0 V (vs. Li+/Li) at room temperature. A Li/LiFePO4 cell with a gel polymer electrolytes based on PVDF/TPU/PVDF-g-MA delivers high first charge–discharge capacity of 166.9 mAh g− 1 when evaluated at 0.1C-rate and a stable cycle performance. The results reveal that PVDF/TPU/PVDF-g-MA is an excellent polymer matrice as gel polymer electrolyte for lithium-ion battery.