Sulfonated White-Graphene for High-Performance Gel Polymer Electrolytes: The Interplay between Ion Conductivity and...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Polymer Science

Background:

• Flexible solid-state supercapacitors are crucial for wearable electronics, demanding high performance and safety.
• Gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) offer improved ionic conductivity and safety over liquid electrolytes.
• Enhancing ion transfer in GPEs is key to advancing energy storage devices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To improve high-performance gel polymer electrolytes (HP-GPEs) by enhancing ion transfer rates.
• To investigate the influence of sulfonated hexagonal boron nitride (white-graphene) on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) based GPEs.
• To explore the relationship between rheology and ion conduction in HP-GPEs.

Main Methods:

• Synthesized HP-GPEs using polyvinyl alcohol and sulfonated hexagonal boron nitride.
• Performed physico-electro-chemical characterizations to analyze structural and electrical properties.
• Utilized impedance analysis to calculate diffusion coefficients and ion mobility.

Main Results:

• A 3D network of nanosheets and crystallites uniformly reduced pore size from ≈7 µm to ≈221 nm.
• Achieved a 6-fold increase in ion conduction to 70.7 mS cm⁻¹.
• Increased specific capacitance by ≈35% with 96% retention after 10,000 cycles.

Conclusions:

• Rheological and structural engineering of hydrogels is vital for high-performance electrolytes.
• The loss factor significantly influences ion conduction in quasi-solid GPEs.
• Developed HP-GPEs demonstrate potential for advanced energy storage applications.