Crosslinkable fumed silica-based nanocomposite electrolytes: role of methacrylate monomer in formation of crosslinked silica network

The electrochemical and rheological properties of composite polymer electrolytes (CPEs) based on fumed silica with tethered crosslinkable groups are reported. These silica nanoparticles are dispersed in electrolytes consisting of poly(ethylene glycol) dimethyl ether (PEGdm)+lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) to which various methacrylate monomers, such as methyl (MMA), ethyl (EMA), butyl (BMA), n-hexyl (HMA), and n-dodecyl (DMA) methacrylate, are added. The methacrylate monomer facilitates creation of chemical crosslinks between fumed silica particles and formation of a crosslinked network. In this study, the effects of concentration and alkyl chain length of the monomers on conductivity, dynamic rheology, open-circuit interfacial stability, and cell voltage in lithium–lithium cell cycling are examined. Increasing the length of the monomer alkyl chain enhances both conductivity and elastic modulus of the crosslinked CPE. In contrast, increasing monomer concentration results in higher elastic modulus, but reduced conductivity. Lithium–lithium cell cycling and open-circuit interfacial stability results did not correlate with alkyl chain length. That is, for the lithium–lithium cycling studies, all crosslinked samples exhibit higher half-cycle voltage compared to non-crosslinked samples; however, the open-circuit interfacial stability of CPEs containing BMA and HMA exhibit improved stability compared to the other monomers and the CPE without monomer.