Hydroxyapatite Nanowire-Reinforced Poly(ethylene oxide)-Based Polymer Solid Electrolyte for Application in High-Temperature Lithium Batteries
Jie Wen, Rui Zhang, Qiannan Zhao, Wei Liu, Guanjie Lu, Xiaolin Hu, Jing Sun, Ronghua Wang, Xiaoping Jiang, Ning Hu, Jilei Liu, Xingjiang Liu, Chaohe Xu
Abstract
Hybrid polymer electrolytes with excellent performance at high temperatures are very promising for developing solid-state lithium batteries for high-temperature applications. Herein, we use a self-supporting hydroxyapatite (HAP) nanowire membrane as a filler to improve the performance of a poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-based solid-state electrolyte. The HAP membrane could comprehensively improve the properties of the hybrid polymer electrolyte, including the higher room-temperature ionic conductivity of 1.05 × 10–5 S cm–1, broad electrochemical windows of up to 5.9 V at 60 °C and 4.9 V at 160 °C, and a high lithium-ion migration of 0.69. In addition, the LiFePO4//Li full battery with a solid electrolyte possesses good rate capability, cycling, and Coulomb efficiency at extreme high temperatures, that is, after 300 continuous charge and discharge cycles at 4 C rate, the discharge capacity retention rate is 77% and the Coulomb efficiency is 99%. The use of the flexible self-supporting HAP nanowire membrane to improve the PEO-based solid composite electrolyte provides new strategies and opportunities for developing rechargeable lithium batteries in extreme high-temperature applications.