Poster Presentation 11
Lithium-Graphite Block Copolymer Battery
Sifei Zhoua,b, Dr. Daniel Hallinana,b
a
Florida State University — Aero-propulsion, Mechatronics & Energy Center — 2003 Levy Avenue, Tallahassee, FL 32310, USA
Florida A&M University-Florida State University College of Engineering, Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering,
2525 Pottsdamer Street, Tallahassee, FL 32310, USA
b
Abstract
Lithium provides the highest cell voltage and specific energy of any lithium battery negative electrode.
However, it is incompatible with flammable classic liquid electrolyte which causes some safety problems. This
leads to intensive work on high performance rechargeable lithium polymer batteries. Most work has used a
lithium metal anode and an oxide cathode with poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) based polymer electrolyte. Despite
much effort having been devoted in the last several years, many issues remain unsolved for lithium polymer
batteries. Improvement in cycle life, operating temperature and energy density are required.
Graphite has good lifetime and rate capability in liquid electrolyte-based batteries and supercapacitors. It is
commonly recognized that graphite and PEO-based polymer electrolyte have poor compatibility due to high
interfacial resistance and exfoliation phenomenon. However, it was reported recently that high molecular weight
PEO electrolyte provides lower interfacial resistance in graphite composite electrodes. Based on this, it will be
interesting to use a high molecular weight block copolymer (polystyrene-b-PEO) to replace PEO as polymer
electrolyte to see if the same trend applies. In addition, the block copolymer has better mechanical properties
that might stabilize the graphite structure and decrease exfoliation, which benefits the cycling performance.
21 | P a g e