Poly(ethylene oxide)‐based block copolymer electrolytes for lithium metal batteries

Abstract

Abstract Nanostructured block copolymer electrolytes (BCEs) based on poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) are considered as promising candidates for solid‐state electrolytes in high energy density lithium metal batteries (LMBs). Because of their self‐assembly properties, they confer on electrolytes both high mechanical strength and sufficient ionic conductivity, which linear PEO cannot provide. Two types of PEO‐based BCEs are commonly known. There are the traditional ones, also called dual‐ion conducting BCEs, which are a mixture of block copolymer chains and lithium salts. In these systems, the cations and anions participate in the conduction, inducing a concentration polarization in the electrolyte, thus leading to poor performances of LMBs. The second family of BCEs are single‐lithium‐ion conducting BCEs ( SIC ‐BCEs), which consist of anions being covalently grafted to the polymer backbone, therefore involving conduction by lithium ions only. SIC ‐BCEs have marked advantages over dual‐ion conducting BCEs due to a high lithium ion transference number, absence of anion concentration gradients as well as low rate of lithium dendrite growth. This review focuses on the recent developments in BCEs for applications in LMBs with particular emphasis on the physicochemical and electrochemical properties of these materials. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry