title: Nanostructured Conductive Polymer Gels as a General Framework Material To Improve Electrochemical Performance of Cathode Materials in Li-Ion Batteries.
abstract: Controlling architecture of electrode composites is of particular importance to optimize both electronic and ionic conduction within the entire electrode and improve the dispersion of active particles, thus achieving the best energy delivery from a battery. Electrodes based on conventional binder systems that consist of carbon additives and nonconductive binder polymers suffer from aggregation of particles and poor physical connections, leading to decreased effective electronic and ionic conductivities. Here we developed a three-dimensional (3D) nanostructured hybrid inorganic-gel framework electrode by in situ polymerization of conductive polymer gel onto commercial lithium iron phosphate particles. This framework electrode exhibits greatly improved rate and cyclic performance because the highly conductive and hierarchically porous network of the hybrid gel framework promotes both electronic and ionic transport. In addition, both inorganic and organic components are uniformly distributed within the electrode because the polymer coating prevents active particles from aggregation, enabling full access to each particle. The robust framework further provides mechanical strength to support active electrode materials and improves the long-term electrochemical stability. The multifunctional conductive gel framework can be generalized for other high-capacity inorganic electrode materials to enable high-performance lithium ion batteries.
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Engineering Program and Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, United States.
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Engineering Program and Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, United States.
authors.forename: Xingyi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Engineering Program and Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, United States.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Andrea M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Bruck
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Engineering Program and Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, United States.
authors.forename: Andrew C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Bond
authors.forename: Amy C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Marschilok
authors.forename: Kenneth J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.affiliation: Energy Sciences Directorate, Brookhaven National Laboratory , Upton, New York 11973, United States.
authors.forename: Esther S
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8518-1047
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Engineering Program and Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, United States.
authors.forename: Guihua
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3253-0749
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yu
keywords: Lithium ion battery; conductive polymer; electrochemistry; energy storage; gel framework; lithium iron phosphate