Tailor-made pore controlled poly (arylene ether ketone) membranes as a lithium-ion battery separator

Porous poly(arylene ether ketone) (PAEK) membranes are prepared by selective removal of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) molecules from self-assembled PAEK-PLA block copolymers. The pore size and porosity of the membranes are precisely controlled by adjusting PLA concentration. The synthesis of the PAEK-PLA copolymer is confirmed by FTIR and NMR spectroscopies and the morphology of the membrane is examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Several important properties such as liquid electrolyte uptake, contact angle, thermal and mechanical stability, and lithium ion conductivity are measured and compared with those of commercial poly(propylene) (PP) membranes to investigate their application feasibility as a separator. The porous PAEK membrane shows improved thermal and dimensional stability compared to the PP membrane. The EC/DEC/EMC (1:1:1, v/v/v) soaked PAEK membrane with a pore diameter of 50 nm shows the highest lithium ion conductivity, higher than that of PP membrane. More importantly, the porous PAEK membranes show superior liquid electrolyte holding capacity to the PP membrane.