Batteries

GREENMat has great experience in the developement of materials both as electrolytes and electrodes for Lithium Batteries.

For what concerns the electrolyte component, the investigated systems range from PEO-based membranes doped with different Li salts, as well as gel electrolytes made of PVDF homopolymer and P(VDF-HFP) copolymers swollen with different organic solutions. In the particular case of gel systems, several studies have been performed in order to correlate the morphology and the microstructure of the pristine polymers (in terms of tortuosity, porosity, pore shape and dimension) with the transport properties, Li ions diffusion and electrochemical performances of the electrolyte. More recently, GREENMat has focused the attention on the development of several ionic liquids as real alternative to the conventional carbonate-based liquid electrolytes. Different systems have been described and tested, by changing the cation structures (e.g. pyperidinium, imidazolium, pyridinium, pyrrolidinium, etc.), the lenght of the side chains and the counterion.

Both the solid polymer electrolytes as well as the gel ones have been also investigated in the composite forms, by means of the dispersion of fillers of different microstructure and chemical nature.

Regarding the cathode component, many materials have been explored, from Li olivines to silicates and high-voltage cathodes. Such materials have been synthetised by different methodes, namely solid state reactions, hydrothermal and sol-gel processes, in order to optimise the morphological fetaures and, consequently, the electrochemical behaviour. Recently, a new reseacrch activity has been started, focused on the investigation of novel structures suitable for Na batteries.

The anode materials, studied by GREENMat for the Li storage, regard nanoarchitectures based on ZnO and related materials in different morphologies, for instance nanorods and nanosheets, eventually coated by graphite, silicon and other active systems. Recently, the possibility to employ LixC60 systems as anodes for Li batteries has been also considered.