Scalable, Safe, High-Rate Supercapacitor Separators Based on the Al2O3 Nanowire Poly(VinylButyral) Nonwoven Membrane

Publication date: Available online 19 February 2020Source: Nano EnergyAuthor(s): Mengting Liu, Kostiantyn Turcheniuk, Wenbin Fu, Yang Yang, Michael Liu, Gleb YushinAbstractHigh-performance supercapacitor nonwoven separators based on polyvinyl butyral (PVB) with uniformly distributed Al2O3 nanowires (NW) fillers (up to 40 wt. %) have been developed using a low-cost casting (stir-pour-dry) technique utilized under ambient conditions for the first time. These novel nonwoven separators with highly porous network demonstrated tensile strength of>30 MPa, extremely high electrolyte absorption (>200 wt.%), low-to-no swelling behavior and stable electrochemical performance, substantially exceeding that of analogous cells with commercial separators. Thermal properties of the produced separators were also exceptional with> 15% MPa of ultimate strength, high flexibility and minimal thermal shrinkage maintained at temperatures as high as 200 oC. The one-dimensional (1D) ceramic nanofillers improved PVB’s mechanical and thermal properties and enabled formation of highly porous membranes with self-organized nanopores and high ionic conductivity of up to 13.5 mS/cm in 1M Na2SO4 aqueous electrolyte. This simple and innovative method and separator design is attractive for manufacturing of high strength, low-cost and flexible separators and suitable for various polymers-ceramic nonwoven compositions for fast charging, high power and safe electrochemical capacitors, hybrid devices and batterie...

Source: Nano Energy - February 19, 2020 Category: Nanotechnology Source Type: research