UMIP-290 – Polymer Electrolyte Membrane with High Conductivity And Lithium Ion Transference Number

Problem: Slow charging/discharging rate is one of the major problems impeding development and application of lithium-ion and other lithium based batteries. The problem of sluggish charge/discharge rate can be resolved via using an electrolyte membrane as separator and polymer electrolyte in the electrodes with both high ionic conductivity and high transference number. Using the polymer electrolytes to replace organic electrolytes also resolve the safety issue of Li batteries. However, development of polymer electrolytes with both high ionic conductivity and transference number has been a very difficult task and so far, unsuccessful. Therefore, there remains a need for a rapid, low cost method of manufacturing a polymer electrolyte or polymer electrolyte membrane for high performance rechargeable batteries and supercapacitors. Technology: Researchers at the University of Miami have developed a novel polymer electrolyte membrane with both high ionic conductivity and transference number. By dispersing graphene oxide pellets with mediator doping into a polymer electrolyte both the ionic conductivity and lithium ion transference number can be increased by two folds. By using the new polymer electrolyte membrane in a supercapacitor, the specific capacitance can be increased up to 60% at high charge/discharge rate. By using the polymer electrolyte membrane in a Li-ion battery, the achievable capacity of the Li-ion battery at a fast charge/discharge rate of 5 C is almost the same as that at a slow rate of 1 C. It is estimated that the charge/discharge rate can be further increased to 10 C and the charging time can be decreased from one hour to 5-6 minutes with a high specific capacity or almost the same specific capacity at 1C. Peter Gutenberg pxg372@miami.edu 305-243-4604