Self-healable dynamic poly(urea-urethane) gel electrolyte for lithium batteries

Abstract

Hindered urea bonds are introduced as self-healing units in a polymer electrolyte for Li-metal batteries. Differently from standard commercial separators, the poly(urea-urethane) system works for hundreds of cycles after several damage/healing steps.

Bio‐Based Solid Electrolytes Bearing Cyclic Carbonates for Solid‐State Lithium Metal Batteries

“…[10][11][12] For example, self-healing materials and coatings gained focus on preventing physical and chemical damage and achieving sustainability, lower environmental impact over the lifetime, and better acceptability. [13][14][15][16] As lithium-metal batteries are maturing with time, the clock ticks not only on the improvement of existing Li-ion cells but also beyond Li-ion batteries technologies, keeping in mind that the former poses issues like stability, limited Li reserves, and recycling. [17][18][19][20] Alternatives like sodium-, potassium-, or magnesium-based batteries, just to name a few, have been actively studied.…”

“…In addition to the design of new solid electrolytes, a large number of studies are also being dedicated to the understanding of the long cycling cells failure via interfacial studies and thus engineering interfaces for beneficial solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) species either by surface treatments and computational predictions [10–12] . For example, self‐healing materials and coatings gained focus on preventing physical and chemical damage and achieving sustainability, lower environmental impact over the lifetime, and better acceptability [13–16] …”

“…The quest for environment‐friendly electrolytes has motivated researchers to investigate “green” polymers in SPEs [44] . These polymers include poly(lactic acid) [45,46] and polyurethanes due to their high degree of tuneability in mechanical properties and conductivity as highlighted in recent Reviews and articles [13,47–50] . In this context, polymers based on vegetable oils with long fatty acids, [51–53] cellulose, [54] gums, [55] and others similar bio‐derivatives [56,57] are of high interest as potential ion conductors owing to their ether and carbonyl functional groups.…”

Intermolecular interactions of an isoindigo-based organic semiconductor with various crosslinkers through hydrogen bonding

“…[9][10][11] Bella et al reported producing a self-healable crosslinked poly(urea-urethane) network by using polyethylene glycol 2000. 9 And Zhang et al successfully designed a chitosan-based dual-network self-healing hydrogel formed via ionic hydrogen bonding and ionic crosslinking. 11 In particular, interactions between molecules play a big role in dening the molecular order of organic semiconductors.…”

“…Commonly, hydrogen and other non-covalent interactions make supramolecular aggregates of organic molecules, which are used in various applications such as optoelectronic devices, 1,2 energy storage devices, [3][4][5][6] tissue engineering, 7 injectable delivery systems, 8 self-healing materials and hydrogels suitable for use as electrolytes, and articial skin. [9][10][11] Bella et al reported producing a self-healable crosslinked poly(urea-urethane) network by using polyethylene glycol 2000. 9 And Zhang et al successfully designed a chitosan-based dual-network self-healing hydrogel formed via ionic hydrogen bonding and ionic crosslinking.…”