High Performance Composite Solid Polymer Electrolytes for Alkaline Metal-Air Electrochemical Cells

The price for petroleum has jumped sharply in the last year. The greenhouse effect and the contamination on earth have also become more serious than ever. Therefore, we must look for novel and more efficient technologies for energy consumption. Metal-Air fuel cells are excellent candidates. However, higher ionic conductivity and electrochemical stability are desired for the electrolyte system. In this project, we plan to continue our research experiences on alkaline solid polymer electrolytes, high performance polymer improvements by sulfonation, and composite processing technologies. We will develop high performance composite solid polymer electrolytes (SPE) with good OH- ionic conductivity, mechanical strength, thermal stability, electrochemical stability, and methanol permeability, for alkaline metal-air electrochemical cells. The alkaline SPE electrolytes can solve the aqueous electrolyte leakage problem. It can also be easily manufactured into batteries in all kinds of size and shape, due to its high flexibility, for the electronic and electro-optical industry. Novel preparation schemes have been studied for polyether ether ketone (PEEK) to improve the hydrophilicity by sulfonation. Nano-sized SiO2 can be surface-treated to provide reinforcement for the nanocomposites. The ionic conductivity can be improved by the ionic movements in the amorphous region, due to the reduction in the crystallinity. We will also employ a supercritical CO2 technology to further improve the physical and chemical properties of the solid polymer electrolytes. For the first half year, we will focus on the electrolyte preparation, material structural characterization, and electrochemical analysis. The key items for the second half year will include metal-air fuel cell assembly by using porous zinc electrode and porous carbon air electrode. We will investigate the discharge rate performance, cycle life, capacity density, energy density, and power density, etc. In recent years, we have continued to investigate the improvements of composite solid polymer electrolytes and their applications in metal-air fuel cells and Al/MnO2, Zn/MnO2 cells. With this project, we will research and develop the fundamental mechanisms and principles for the alkaline anionic solid polymer electrolytes for the electrochemical cell key technologies.

Project ID:PB9709-0746
External Project ID:NSC97-2221-E182-005