Composite gel-type polymer electrolytes for advanced, rechargeable lithium batteries

The main goal of this work was to determine whether the dispersion of ceramic fillers have any promotion effect on the properties of solidlike, gel-type lithium conducting polymer electrolytes. Using a series of different but complementary techniques, which included SEM analysis, voltammetry and impedance spectroscopy, we demonstrate that the dispersion of surface functionalized fumed silica and alumina, respectively, to PVdF-carbonate solvent-lithium salt systems, while not greatly influencing the transport properties, does stabilize the lithium metal interface and the mechanical properties of the resulting composite GPE electrolytes. The relevance of these features in view of practical application is here demonstrated by the response of lithium batteries based on selected GPEs. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved