Suppression of crystallization in a plastic crystal electrolyte (SN/LiClO4) by a polymeric additive (polyethylene oxide) for battery applications

A basic problem with many promising solid electrolyte materials for battery applications is that crystallization in these materials at room temperature makes ionic mobilities plummet, thus compromising battery function. In the present work, we consider the use of a polymer additive (polyethylene oxide, PEO) to inhibit the crystallization of a promising battery electrolyte material, the organic crystal forming molecule succinonitrile (SN) mixed with a salt (LiClO₄). While SN spherulite formation still occurs at low PEO concentrations, the SN spherulites become progressively irregular and smaller with an increasing PEO concentration until a ‘critical’ PEO concentration (20% molar fraction PEO) is reached where SN crystallization is no longer observable by optical microscopy at room temperature. Increasing the PEO concentration further to 70% (molar fraction PEO) leads to a high PEO concentration regime where PEO spherulites become readily apparent by optical microscopy. Additional diffraction and thermodynamic measurements establish the predominantly amorphous nature of our electrolyte-polymer mixtures at intermediate PEO concentrations (20-60% molar fraction PEO) and electrical conductivity measurements confirm that these complex mixtures exhibit the phenomenology of glass-forming liquids. Importantly, the intermediate PEO concentration electrolyte-polymer mixtures retain a relatively high conductivity at room temperature in comparison to the semicrystalline materials that are obtained at low and high PEO concentrations. We have thus demonstrated an effective strategy for creating highly conductive and stable conductive polymer-electrolyte materials at room temperature that are promising for battery applications.