Biodegradable Bacterial Cellulose-Supported Quasi-Solid Electrolyte for Lithium Batteries

Abstract

The stringent safety and sustainability requirements for electrolytes used in lithium batteries have led to significant research efforts into alternative materials. Here, a quasi-solid electrolyte based on biodegradable bacterial cellulose (BC) was successfully synthesized via a simple ball milling method. The BC provides plenty of sites for the attachment of ionic liquid electrolytes (ILEs) as well as ion transport channels. Moreover, the O–H groups contained in the BC molecular chains interact with anions in ILEs to form hydrogen bonds, which promotes the dissociation of the lithium salts. The prepared electrolytes (BC-ILEs) have good thermal stability with a decomposition temperature exceeding 300 °C and high ionic conductivities. The Li/BC-ILE/LiFePO4 battery exhibits remarkable electrochemical performance. More importantly, the results of the Fehling test verify that the electrolyte can be degraded by cellulase. The quasi-solid electrolyte broadens the range of electrolytes for lithium batteries and provides new avenues to explore safe and eco-friendly materials.

Bacterial-Polymer-Based Electrolytes: Recent Progress and Applications

“…4,83,84 Zhao et al fabricated highly flexible hydrogel electrolytes based on BC and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) with KOH and Zn(CH 3 COO) 2 solutions. 85 Apart from the high ionic conductivity of 0.08 S cm −1 , the tensile strength (0.951 MPa) was ∼9 times higher than that of pure PVA (Figure 3 61 BC has also been used as reinforcement in other biobased polymer electrolytes. Fei et al developed PAA−sodium alginate hydrogel polymer electrolyte chemically cross-linked by poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) and Ca 2+ and reinforced with BC.…”

“…RTILs reaching a maximum conductivity of 2.38 × 10 −4 S cm −1 at room temperature. 61 BC has also been used as reinforcement in other biobased polymer electrolytes. Fei et al developed PAA−sodium alginate hydrogel polymer electrolyte chemically cross-linked by poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) and Ca 2+ and reinforced with BC.…”

“…139 Yan et al prepared Li-ion batteries using BC−LiTFSI−[Py13][TFSI] electrolytes, LiFe-PO 4 cathodes, and Li anodes. 61 The assembled cell showed a capacity of 138 mAh g −1 that remained almost constant after 100 cycles at 0.1 C. Ding et al used compressed BC− Li 0.33 La 0.557 TiO 3 NW aerogels as electrolytes in Li-ion batteries. The battery cell maintained its electrical performance even after 1200 h at high current density (5 mA cm −2 ).…”

Super‐Assembled Hierarchical Cellulose Aerogel‐Gelatin Solid Electrolyte for Implantable and Biodegradable Zinc Ion Battery

“…[22][23][24] Recent advances in Zn-MnO 2 battery systems have successfully transformed this classic primary battery into a highly reversible solid-state battery. [25][26][27][28] As an aqueous electrolyte battery, solidstate zinc ion batteries (ZIBs) can solve the inherent safety problems of traditional organic electrolyte lithium batteries while providing high flexibility and reliable electrochemical performance for portable and flexible electronic products. [29,30] Unfortunately, even such high-performance solid-state ZIBs are still very limited in the field of implantable healthcare.…”

Mono‐Doped Carbon Nanofiber Aerogel as a High‐Performance Electrode Material for Rechargeable Zinc‐Air Batteries

“…Compared to the manufacture of fibers with electrospinning and other methods, bacterial cellulose (BC) is a cheap, environmentally friendly, and sustainable biomass that is abundantly produced via microbial fermentation [37] . BC pellicle has been proven to be an excellent precursor for the production highly conductive CNF aerogels, [19] heteroatom‐doped CNFs, [25] metal oxide hybrid CNFs, [38] for use in energy storage and conversion, [39,40] because of its highly interconnected 3D frameworks interweaved by numerous of nanofibers and the plenty of hydroxyl groups capable of additional chemical modifications [41,42] . Moreover, conventional carbon‐based three‐dimensional (3D) network structures are generally formed by loose stacking of fibers, while the CNFs derived from BC are fused and interconnected with each other and no contact resistance occurs between nanofibers.…”