Nanocellulose-Based Separators for Energy Storage Devices

Abstract

Over the past few years, energy-storage devices, such as batteries and supercapacitors (SCs), have witnessed significant advancements in energy density, safety, reduced material costs, and increased use of sustainable and environment-friendly materials. A highly porous separator membrane is critical in energy-storage devices. It allows free ionic flow while isolating electronic flow between electrodes, preventing electrical short-circuits, and substantially impacting the devices' safety and electrochemical performance. Nanocellulose (NC) derived from plants or bacteria has received much interest as a separator due to inherent hydrophilicity, good thermal, chemical, dimensional stability, and excellent mechanical properties. This chapter focuses on recent advancements in separators made from NC-based materials. It begins with the importance of the separator in the energy-storage device and the NC-based materials as separators. The recent applications of NC-based separators in lithium-ion, lithium-sulfur, lithium-metal batteries, and SCs are comprehensively discussed.