Superacid ZrO2-added, composite polymer electrolytes with improved transport properties

In this paper we report the synthesis and the properties of a new composite polymer electrolyte formed by dispersing a sulphate-promoted superacid zirconia into a poly(ethylene oxide)–lithium tetrafluoroborate, PEO–LiBF4, matrix. We show that the addition of the superacid ceramic greatly enhances the properties of the electrolyte in terms of improvement of its transport properties, and particularly, of the lithium transference number. The results, in addition to their practical reflection in the lithium polymer electrolyte battery technology, also provide a valid support to the model which ascribes the enhancement of the transport properties of ceramic-added composites to the specific Lewis acid–base interactions between the ceramic surface states and both the lithium salt anion and the PEO-chains.