Recent Pickup Papers

A highly salt concentrated ethylene carbonate-based self-standing copolymer electrolyte for solid-state lithium metal batteries

Journal of Materials Chemistry A (accepted 24 Jun. 2024) Open Access
Nantapat Soontornnon, Kento Kimura, Yoichi Tominaga

In this work, we achieved long cycling of SSLMBs utilizing an electrolyte based on CO2 -derived crosslinked random poly(ethylene carbonate- co -ethylene oxide- co -allyl glycidyl ether) (CP). The CP with as high as 29% crosslinking unit ratio (CP29 ) dissolving a high concentration of LiFSI can be obtained as a mechanically stable self-standing membrane and functions as an efficient electrolyte with a reasonable ionic conductivity. Remarkably, a Li//LiFePO4 SSLMB with the electrolyte as the self-standing separator enabled rechargeable operation for 400 cycles at 40 °C, with a coulombic efficiency of more than 99.5%.

Development of polycarbonate-based electrolytes with in situ polymerized electrolyte interlayers for lithium-metal batteries

Journal of Energy Storage (accepted 15 Dec. 2023)
Zhenxing Cui, Jusef Hassoun, Yoichi Tominaga

In this study, an innovative approach is introduced to address these challenges by incorporating an in situ polymerized poly(vinyl ethylene carbonate) (PVEC) electrolyte interlayer between poly(ethylene carbonate) (PEC)-based SPE and electrode material. Furthermore, lithium nitrate (LiNO3) is incorporated as an additive in the PEC-based SPE to facilitate the formation of a stable and suitable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer, thereby enhancing the cycling stability of LMBs.

Ion-Conductive and Mechanically Stable Copolymer Electrolytes Based on Aliphatic Carbonates

Macromolecules (accepted 17 Oct. 2023)
Shuto Ishii, Naomi Nishimura, Yoichi Tominaga

A polycarbonate-based copolymer was developed by copolymerization with poly(decamethylene carbonate) [P(DMC)], pentaerythritol, triethylene glycol (TEG), 3,9-bis(1,1-dimethyl-2-hydroxyethyl)-2,4,8,10-tetraoxaspiro[5.5]undecane (spiroglycol, SPG) and was evaluated as an SPE. By comparing SPEs containing 60 wt % LiTFSI, we find that the copolymerization of SPG significantly improves the mechanical stability of SPE. branch-P(DMC/TEG/SPG) that has been copolymerized with all monomers displayed the best ionic conductivity at room temperature, a value of 7.4 × 10–6 S cm–1 at 30 oC.