Effects of the porous structure on conductivity of nanocomposite polymer electrolyte for lithium ion batteries

A kind of porous nanocomposite polymer membranes (NCPMs) based on poly(vinylidene difluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (P(VdF-HFP)) incorporated with different amounts of TiO2 nanoparticles from in situ hydrolysis of Ti(OC4H9)4 was prepared by a non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) technology. The SEM micrographs reveal that a porous structure exists in the NCPMs, which changes with the incorporated amount of TiO2. The NCPMs incorporated with 9.0 wt.% of mass fraction of TiO2 possess the highest porosity, 67.3%, and appear as flexile fracture with an elongation ratio, 74.4%. At this content, the ionic conductivity of the NCPE is up to 0.94 × 10−3 S cm−1 at room temperature and the activation energy for ions transport reaches the lowest, 18.71 kJ mol−1. It is of great potential application in lithium ion batteries.