Polymeric Nanoscale All-Solid State Battery
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Polymeric Nanoscale All-Solid State Battery Steven E. Bullock1, and Peter Kofinas2 1 Department of Materials and Nuclear Engineering, 2 Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, U.S.A. ABSTRACT The advent of polymer electrolytes has provided a promising route to an all solidstate polymer battery. Such a battery would have greater safety, without potential discharge of liquid or gel electrolyte. Current battery configurations typically involve a metal anode, a solvent-plasticized polyelectrolyte, such as poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO), and a composite cathode. We have synthesized an A/B/C triblock copolymer which could have potential use as an all-solid state nanoscale polymer lithium battery. The polymeric battery was synthesized with an anode, electrolyte and cathode by synthesizing an A/B/C triblock copolymer whose microphase separation would form lamellar domains. These nanodomains contain cobalt oxide, a derivative of PEO synthesized by ring opening metathesis polymerization, and a spinel phase LiMn2O4 as the anode, electrolyte and cathode material, respectively. The first block contains cobalt oxide that stores lithium ion in a novel electrochemical reaction that allows use in a battery configuration. The second block is polyethylene oxide derived from an unsaturated crown ether, and is used for its high ionic conductivity. The third block contains LiMn2O4, which is currently being investigated as a potential cathode material because of its low toxicity and ease of preparation. The nanometer size domains in the battery can be used in unique applications in microelectronics. In addition, such size scale allows use of the battery in discrete circuits, reducing the amount of wiring necessary in conventional battery configurations. INTRODUCTION In recent years, the interest in polymeric batteries has increased dramatically. With the advent of lithium batteries used in cell phones and laptop computers, the search for an all solid-state battery has continued. Research on polymeric materials for batteries has focused primarily on polyelectrolytes [1,2]. Current configurations have a liquid or gel electrolyte between the anode and cathode. This leads to problems with electrolyte loss and decreased performance over time. There are certain benefits for all polymer devices as the anode and cathode materials. For instance, processability of polymers can allow fabrication of batteries in a sheet configuration. One method of synthesizing anode and cathode materials in polymer systems is block copolymers in which metals and metal oxides are confined within microphase-separated domains. The goal of this research is to synthesize A/B/C triblock copolymer self- assembled nanocomposites and evaluate their electrical properties for the fabrication of solid-state batteries. The nanoscale polymer battery would exhibit a lamellar microphase separation. Several research groups have used block copolymers with self-assembled domains as a template for loading metals. [35]. Our work uses an A/B/C tri
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