Polymer gel electrolytes containing sulfur-based ionic liquids in lithium battery applications at room temperature

Polymer gel electrolytes comprising a sulfur-based ionic liquid (IL), a lithium salt, and butyrolactone (GBL) as an additive hosted in PVdF-HFP matrix were prepared and characterized. The result shows that adding small amount of GBL to the polymer electrolytes can improve the cathodic stability of the electrolytes, which ensures the lithium plating/stripping in the redox process. Furthermore, cyclic voltammograms studies indicate that the polymer electrolytes have well reversible redox process. When the IL component reaches 75 wt%, the polymer electrolyte has higher ionic conductivity than the other samples and it is 6.32 × 10^-4 S cm^-1. The assembled batteries with the polymer electrolyte have better discharge capacity, and after 100 cycles, the discharge capacity of the battery still retains 148 mAh g^-1.