Polymeric ionic liquid-plastic crystal composite electrolytes for lithium ion batteries

In this work, composite polymer electrolytes (CPEs), that is, 80%[(1−x)PIL-(x)SN]-20%LiTFSI, are successfully prepared by using a pyrrolidinium-based polymeric ionic liquid (P(DADMA)TFSI) as a polymer host, succinonitrile (SN) as a plastic crystal, and lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) as a lithium salt. XRD and DSC measurements confirm that the as-obtained CPEs have amorphous structures. The 80%[50%PIL-50%SN]-20%LiTFSI (50% SN) electrolyte reveals a high room temperature ionic conductivity of 5.74 × 10−4 S cm−1, a wide electrochemical window of 5.5 V, as well as good mechanical strength with a Young's modulus of 4.9 MPa. Li/LiFePO4 cells assembled with the 50% SN electrolyte at 0.1C rate can deliver a discharge capacity of about 150 mAh g−1 at 25 °C, with excellent capacity retention. Furthermore, such cells are able to achieve stable discharge capacities of 131.8 and 121.2 mAh g−1 at 0.5C and 1.0C rate, respectively. The impressive findings demonstrate that the electrolyte system prepared in this work has great potential for application in lithium ion batteries.