Separator is an indispensable component in rechargeable battery, and its performance significantly affects the electrochemical performance of the battery. Commercial separators for LIB are usually made of polyolefin materials, which often have low thermal stabilities and poor electrolyte wettabilities. The development of entirely new classes of inexpensive insulating materials that optimize both thermal stability and electrolyte wettability are therefore needed and separators where a functionality is included can even enhance the cycling stability of a battery. In this presentation we present a new cellulose-based separators made with Cladophora cellulose fibers via a straightforward paper making method possess, showing several advantages compared to conventional polyolefin separators, e.g. ionic conductivity, thermal stability, electrolyte wettability, pore distribution, providing promising alternatives for battery separators. Apart from studying the basic functions mentioned above, various types of advanced separator functionalities have been studied, i.e. redox-activity and the attainment of a homogeneous current distribution, in conjunction with proposals for dendrite-proof separator designs. Our study paves a sustainable way to develop high performance batteries separators via value-added utilization of cellulose materials.

Nanocellulose paper-based battery separators