Development of novel polymer-based cathodes and electrolytes for high performance batteries

Over the last decades, batteries have rapidly evolved according to the environmental, economic and societal demands. Progress has been made in their lightweight, small size and autonomy with high specific energy. Lithium batteries (LiBs) are thus become the most widely used rechargeable electrochemical storage systems for portable electronic devices. Unfortunately, they still suffer from safety issues, limited power delivery and slow charging time. Thus, the development of new chemistries for the electrolyte and electrode active materials, which could be able to increase the performances of batteries, remains challenges for our modern society. The use of polymers in batteries is recently investigated because they are known to offer a broad range of properties such as adjustable mechanical and thermal properties, according to their various structure and composition. This thesis focuses on designing new polymeric materials with enhanced conductivity in order to facilitate the charge transfers and ion diffusion processes within batteries. To achieve the goal of this project, the structure-property relationships are established based on polymer syntheses and battery processing, as well as physico- and electro-chemical characterizations.(SC - Sciences) -- UCL, 201