The separator is a significant safety component inside the lithium-based battery. To design a higher-power-density system, a functional separator has attracted more attention. In our study, vinyl trimethoxysilane (VTMS) has been directly grafted onto a polyethylene (PE) separator by γ-irradiation. We have evaluated the performance of a PE separator grafted with VTMS (PE-g-SiH) and its basic hydrolysis separator (PE-g-SiO) in detail and have discussed the role of separator surface polarity in the ion transport process. The consequence shows that the lithium-ion transference number of the PE-g-SiO separator is 0.38, superior than 0.27 of a pure PE separator and 0.29 of a PE-g-SiH separator. It can be a reason that the LiCoO 2 /Li cell with a PE-g-SiO separator shows excellent cycle stability and rate performance. Furthermore, in the case of a PE-g-SiO separator, the Li/Li symmetric model possesses the lowest activation energy of 55.2 kJ mol −1 , indicating that lithium ions migrate easily at the interface of electrodes and a separator filled with liquid electrolyte. It is attributed to the improved interaction between the separator wall and solvent, which is in favor of lithium-ion-selective transport. Hence, separator functionalization is expected to enhance the battery performance further.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.