Nowadays, Li-ion batteries are technically challenging and economically impractical to recycle due to the complex structure of mixed materials and irreversible process of production. Molecular self-assembly of organic small molecules offers a completely new approach to address this challenge. In contrast to conventional polymer, molecular self-assembly occurs when small molecules spontaneously form nanostructures to maximize favorable interactions with their solvent environments. This bottom-up design strategy to build nanostructures offers precise spatial arrangement, high surface areas, tunable surface chemistry, and most notably here, reversible structural formation. Thus, if self-assembled materials can be used as an electrolyte in Li-ion batteries, this layer can be easily recycled by dissolution in liquids to disassemble the nanostructure, and the electrodes can then be separated and directly recycled as the layers holding them together are removed. In this study, we synthesized a new class of molecular self-assembly nanomaterials that incorporates hallmark features of <i>Kevlar</i>, the material of bulletproof vests, and poly(ethylene) oxide (PEO), a classic Li-ion conductive material. Advanced microscopy, X-ray scattering, thermal and electrochemical analysis were performed to investigate the performance of these supramolecular nanomaterials as a solid electrolyte for Li-ion batteries. Furthermore, direct recycling is also demonstrated with the end-of-life cell. This study paves the way for using molecular self-assembly as an approach to novel and directly recyclable designs of Li-ion batteries.

Molecular self-assembled solid electrolyte for directly recyclable Li-ion batteries

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ACS Fall 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.