Preparation and characterization of poly(vinylidene fluoride) based composite electrolytes for electrochemical devices

Highlights: • Macroporous PVdF based membranes for electrochemical applications were prepared with support materials. • Woven PET and PA fabrics and non-woven cellulose paper are used as support materials. • Porous structure of PVdF was obtained on the support material. • Interaction between the electrolyte solvent and the composite material played an important role on the mechanical properties. • Compared to the pure PVdF separators, enhanced mechanical strength was obtained for composite separators, without decreasing the ionic conductivity. -- Abstract: PVdF-based separators are very promising materials in electrochemical energy storage systems but they suffer from fairly poor mechanical properties. To overcome this drawback, composite PVdF separators were fabricated and characterized in electrolytes of Li-ion batteries and supercapacitors. Macroporous PVdF composite separators were prepared by phase inversion method using PA and PET, and non-woven cellulose as support layers. Ionic conductivity and thermomechanical analyses were performed using electrolytes of Li-ion batteries and supercapacitors. The composite approach allowed a tremendous increase of the mechanical performances of the separator (between 340 and 750 MPa) compared to the unreinforced PVdF separator (56 MPa), without compromising the ionic conductivities (up to 15.6 mS cm−1)