Li Batteries Fabricated with Inorganic-Organic Hybrid Gel Polymer Electrolytes Crosslinked with Miniscule Amounts of Ladder-like Structured Polysilsesquioxanes

摘要

Over the past couple of decades, there have been immense research efforts to mitigate the safety concerns of liquid electrolyte in Li batteries, while maintaining the practical battery performance. Liquid electrolyte, while inherently having high ionic conductivity, are comprised of lithium salts dissolved in flammable solvents, most commonly of the carbonate family. These high flammable solvents, coupled with the packaging issues arising from the leakage of these solvents, have become key issues for battery researchers. In this study, a novel fully condensed, polymeric, ladder-like structured poly(methacryloxypropyl) silsesquioxane (LPMASQ) was synthesized and utilized as a crosslinker for gelating a lithium solution. Thermal crosslinking of the methacryl moieties of LPMASQs in various weight percentages lead to the formation of homogeneous, non-leaking gel polymer electrolyte.