Electrospun electroactive polyvinylidene fluoride-based fibrous polymer electrolyte for sodium ion batteries

Electrospinning is an efficient technique to produce ultrafine electroactive mat, diameters ranging from few nanometers to micrometers to use as a separator in sodium ion battery. The polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) polymer solution was optimized to 19 wt%, applied voltage 25 kV and flow rate of 0.5 ml h(-1) to get a bead free ultrafine electroactive structure. The electroactive beta-phase is confirmed by x-ray diffractometer (XRD). Ionic conductivities, electrolyte uptake, wettability, linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and thermal stability of the electroactive fibrous polymer electrolyte (EFPE) were studied by soaking the separator with a liquid electrolyte of 1 M sodium hexafluorophosphate (NaPF6) dissolved in ethylene carbonate (EC)/propylene carbonate (PC) (1:1 vol%). The EFPE exhibits high ionic conductivity of 1.08 mS cm(-1) and electrochemical stability window of 5.0 V versus Na/Na+ under ambient condition. The half-cell containing Na0.66Fe0.5Mn0.5O2 as cathode and EFPE as the separator cum electrolyte showed a stable cycling performance at a current rate of 0.1C.