• Membrane Journal
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.310-317
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• 2016

Lithium ion secondary battery (LISB) is an energy conversion system operated via charging-discharging cycle based on Lithium ion migration. LISB has a lot of advantages such as high energy density, low self-discharge rate, and a relatively high lifetime. Recently, increasing demands of electric vehicles have been encouraging the development of LISB with high capacity. Unfortunately, it causes some critical safety issues. It includes dendrite formation on negative electrode, resulting in electric shortage problems and battery explosion. Also, the elevated temperatures occurred during the LISB operation induces thermal shrinkage of polyolefin (e.g., polyethylene and polypropylene) separators. Consequently, the low thermal stability leads to decay of LISB performances and the reduction of lifetime. In this study, sulfonated poly (arylene ether sulfone) (SPAES) random copolymers were used as key materials to prepare polyolefin pore-filling separator. The resulting separators were evaluated in the term of metal ion chelation capability associated with dendrite formation, $Li^+$ ion conductivity and thermal durability.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.324-328
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• 2009

The internal short-circuit between cathodes and anodes has been known to be a critical concern for the safety failures of lithium-ion batteries, which is strongly influenced by the thermal stability of separators. In this study, to effectively suppress the internal short-circuit failures, we developed a new composite separator with the improved thermal stability compared to conventional polyolefin-based separators. The composite separators were prepared by introducing a ceramic coating layer ($Al_2O_3$/PVdF-HFP) onto both sides of a polyethylene (PE) separator. The microporous structure of ceramic coating layers is determined by controlling the phase inversion of coating solutions and becomes more developed with the increase of nonsolvent (water) content. This structural change of ceramic coating layers was observed to greatly affect the thermal stability as well as the electrochemical performance of composite separators, which was systematically discussed in terms of phase inversion.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.82-87
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• 2007

New porous separators based on non-polyolefin materials including the blend of poly (vinyl chloride) (PVC)/poly (vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (P(VdF-co-HFP)/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), and the porous separator based on poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVdF) were prepared by phase inversion method. The porosity and morphology were controlled with phase inversion rate, which is governed by the relative content of non-solvent and solvent in coagulation bath. To enhance tensile strength, the solvent pre-evaporation and uni-axial stretching processes were applied. The ionic conductivity was increased with increasing stretching ratio, and tensile strength was increased with increasing solvent pre-evaporation time and stretching ratio. The 200% stretched PVdF separator showed 56 MPa of tensile strength, and the ionic conductivity of the stretched PVdF separator was $8.6{\times}10^{-4}\;S\;cm^{-1}\;at\;25^{\circ}C$.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.337-350
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• 2016

Lithium-ion rechargeable batteries (LIBs) have garnered increasing attention with the rapid advancements in portable electronics, electric vehicles, and grid-scale energy storage systems which are expected to drastically change our future lives. This review describes a separator membrane, one of the key components in LIBs, in terms of porous structure and physicochemical properties, and its recent development trends are followed. The separator membrane is a kind of porous membrane that is positioned between a cathode and an anode. Its major functions involve electrical isolation between the electrodes while serving as an ionic transport channel that is filled with liquid electrolyte. The separator membranes are not directly involved in redox reactions of LIBs, however, their aforementioned roles significantly affect performance and safety of LIBs. A variety of research approaches have been recently conducted in separator membranes in order to further reinforce battery safeties and also widen chemical functionalities. This review starts with introduction to commercial polyolefin separators that are currently most widely used in LIBs. Based on this understanding, modified polyolefin separators, nonwoven separators, ceramic composite separators, and chemically active separators will be described, with special attention to their relationship with future research directions of advanced LIBs.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.60-68
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• 2004

The core-shell polyolefin nonwovon fabric (PNF), wherein the PNF comprises at least about 60% of polyethylene having a melting temperature at ${\sim}132^{\circ}C$ and no more than about 40% of second polypropylene having a lower melting temperature at ${\sim}162^{\circ}C$. The sulfonic acid group for battery separators were prepared by radiation-induced grafting of styrene onto PNF and by the subsequent sulfonation of polystyrene graft chains. The sulfonated PNF was characterized by XPS, SEM, DSC, TGA and porosimeter. The electrochemical properties such as electrolyte retension, electrical resistance, and transport number of the $K^+ions$ were evaluated after sulfonation. It was found that the electrolyte retension increased, whereas the electrical resistance decreased with increasing sulfonic acid content. The transport number of $K^+$ in PNF with sulfonic acid of 0.22 ~ 3.60 mmol/g was to be 0.90 ~ 0.93.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.27-33
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• 2017

Conventional lithium ion batteries suffer from notorious safety issues caused by inevitable lithium dendrite formation and proliferation during over/fast charging processes. The lithium dendrites or mechanical damage on the separator induce internal short circuit in LiB that generates extensive amount of heat within contacted electrode surfaces through the separator. During this heat generation, conventional polyolefin separators shrinks dramatically, and increasing short circuit pathway, that causes the battery to explode. To overcome this serious issue, ceramic coated separators are developed in commercial LiB to enhance thermal and mechanical stability. In this paper, various size(IL = 488.5 nm, I = 538.7 nm, S = 810.3 nm, D = 1533.3 nm) of $Al_2O_3$ particles are coated using styrene-butadiene rubber(SBR) / carboxymethyl cellulose(CMC) binder on PE separator to investigate its thermal stability and electrochemical effect on LiB coin cell with NCM cathode and Li metal anode.