Single-Ion-Conducting Nanocomposite Polymer Electrolytes for Lithium Batteries Based on Lithiated-Fluorinated-Iron Oxide and Poly(ethylene glycol) 400

Highlights: • A family of nanocomposite polymer electrolytes (nCPEs) is prepared and characterized. • nCPEs consist of lithiated fluorinated iron oxide particles dispersed in PEG400. • The thermal properties, structure and electrical response of nCPEs are elucidated. • nCPEs are single-ion conductors with a high thermal stability and conductivity. - Abstract: A poly(ethylene glycol) 400 (PEG400) matrix doped with different amounts of a fluorinated Fe₂O₃-based nanofiller (LiFI) featuring a Li⁺-functionalised surface gives rise to nanocomposite polymer electrolytes (nCPEs) that demonstrate single-ion conduction. A family of nCPEs with general formula [PEG400/(LiFI)_y] and y = n_Fe/n_PEG400 ranging from 0 to 8.15 are prepared; they are characterized by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES), High-Resolution Thermogravimetric Analysis (HR-TGA), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), and Fourier-transform vibrational spectroscopy in both the medium (MIR) and far (FIR) infrared. The Li⁺ transference number, t_Li+,is determined and Broadband Electrical Spectroscopy (BES) is used to elucidate the electrical response of the materials in terms of polarization and relaxation events. The combination of the information obtained by all the aforementioned techniques enables us to present a possible conduction mechanism for these nCPEs single-ion conducting systems