High performance of boehmite/polyacrylonitrile composite nanofiber membrane for polymer lithium-ion battery

In this study, a novel boehmite/polyacrylonitrile (BM/PAN) composite nanofiber membrane was prepared using the electrospinning technique. The physical and electrochemical properties of different contents of BM/PAN composite nanofiber membranes were investigated as separators for lithium ion batteries (LIBs). Compared to the commercial polypropylene (PP) separator, the experimental results show that the BM/PAN composite nanofiber separator possesses a unique three-dimensional (3D) interconnected structure and exhibits higher porosity, greater electrolyte up-take, higher thermal stability and better electrochemical performance in a LiCoO2/Li cell. Besides, batteries containing 30 wt% BM/PAN membranes display the highest ionic conductivity (2.85 mS cm−1), widest electrochemical stability window (5.5 V vs. Li+/Li), leading to the highest initial discharge capacity (162 mA h g−1) and the largest capacity retention ratio (90.7%) at 0.5C after 100 cycles. These findings reveal that the BM/PAN composite nanofiber membranes are promising candidates as commercial separators for high performance LIBs.