A renewable and biodegradable nanocellulose-based gel polymer electrolyte for lithium-ion battery

Polymers, such as PVDF and PMMA, have been commonly adopted as host materials for gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs), leading to excessive consumption of fossil fuel as well as severe white pollution. Nanocellulose (NC) is a kind of renewable and biodegradable carbohydrate polymer so that its possible application in gel polymer electrolyte for lithium-ion battery is discussed in this paper. The NC membrane with a porous network is prepared by freeze-drying method. To further extend its application into GPE, glutaraldehyde (GA) is used as cross-link agent to enhance the performance of the membrane. Cross-linked by 6 wt% GA, the skeleton membrane exhibits satisfactory mechanical property and thermal stability. The GPE gives moderate electrochemical performance and reverse capability. The experimental results show that the introduction of nanocellulose provides a direction for the development of carbohydrate polymer applied in GPE.