Poly(vinylidene fluoride)/poly(acrylonitrile) blend fibrous membranes by centrifugal spinning for high-performance lithium ion battery separators

Fibrous membranes are promising as high-performance lithium ion battery separators because of high porosity and superior electrolyte uptake. Electrospinning is a popular approach to produce fibrous membranes, but its production rate is very low. As a comparison, mass production of fibrous membranes can be achieved by centrifugal spinning. This study reports fibrous membranes based on poly(vinylidene fluoride)/poly(acrylonitrile) blends by centrifugal spinning and their application as lithium ion battery separators. The blend fibrous membranes have high electrolyte uptake of about 300%, excellent dimensional stability at 180 degrees C and good mechanical strength over 18 MPa. The coin cells with the blend fibrous membranes as separators show high discharge capacity of 147.7 mAh/g at 0.2 C and superior C-rate performance. (c) 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 134, 44515.