Novel sandwich structured glass fiber Cloth/Poly(ethylene oxide)-MXene composite electrolyte

Recently,poly(ethylene oxide)(PEO)-based solid polymer electrolytes have been attracting great attention,and efforts are currently underway to develop PEO-based composite electrolytes for next generation high performance all-solid-state lithium metal batteries.In this article,a novel sandwich structured solid-state PEO composite electrolyte is developed for high performance all-solid-state lithium metal batteries.The PEO-based composite electrolyte is fabricated by hot-pressing PEO,LiTFSI and Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x) MXene nanosheets into glass fiber cloth(GFC).The as-prepared GFC@PEO-MXene electrolyte shows high mechanical properties,good electrochemical stability,and high lithium-ion migration number,which indicates an obvious synergistic effect from the microscale GFC and the nanoscale MXene.Such as,the GFC@PEO-1 wt%MXene electrolyte shows a high tensile strength of 43.43 MPa and an impressive Young's modulus of 496 MPa,which are increased by 1205%and 6048%over those of PEO.Meanwhile,the ionic conductivity of GFC@PEO-1 wt%MXene at 60℃ reaches 5.01×10^(-2) S m^(-1),which is increased by around 200%compared with that of GFC@PEO electrolyte.In addition,the Li/Li symmetric battery based on GFC@PEO-1 wt%MXene electrolyte shows an excellent cycling stability over 800 h(0.3 mA cm^(-2),0.3 mAh cm^(-2)),which is obviously longer than that based on PEO and GFC@PEO electrolytes due to the better compatibility of GFC@PEO-1 wt%MXene electrolyte with Li anode.Furthermore,the solid-state Li/LiFePO_(4) battery with GFC@PEO-1 wt%MXene as electrolyte demonstrates a high capacity of 110.2–166.1 mAh g^(-1) in a wide temperature range of 25–60C,and an excellent capacity retention rate.The developed sandwich structured GFC@PEO-1 wt%MXene electrolyte with the excellent overall performance is promising for next generation high performance all-solid-state lithium metal batteries.

Laminar Composite Solid Electrolyte with Poly(Ethylene Oxide)-Threaded Metal-Organic Framework Nanosheets for High-Performance All-Solid-State Lithium Battery

Developing laminar composite solid electrolyte with ultrathin thickness and continuous conduction channels in vertical direction holds great promise for all-solid-state lithium batteries.Herein,a thin,laminar solid electrolyte is synthesized by filtrating–NH 2 functionalized metal-organic framework nanosheets and then being threaded with poly(ethylene oxide)chains induced by the hydrogen-bonding interaction from–NH_(2) groups.It is demonstrated that the threaded poly(ethylene oxide)chains lock the adjacent metal-organic framework nanosheets,giving highly enhanced structural stability(Young’s modulus,1.3 GPa)to 7.5-μm-thick laminar composite solid electrolyte.Importantly,these poly(ethylene oxide)chains with stretching structure serve as continuous conduction pathways along the chains in pores.It makes the non-conduction laminar metal-organic framework electrolyte highly conductive:3.97×10^(−5) S cm^(−1) at 25℃,which is even over 25 times higher than that of pure poly(ethylene oxide)electrolyte.The assembled lithium cell,thus,acquires superior cycling stability,initial discharge capacity(148 mAh g^(−1) at 0.5 C and 60℃),and retention(94% after 150 cycles).Besides,the pore size of nanosheet is tailored(24.5–40.9˚A)to evaluate the mechanisms of chain conformation and ion transport in confined space.It shows that the confined pore only with proper size could facilitate the stretching of poly(ethylene oxide)chains,and meanwhile inhibit their disorder degree.Specifically,the pore size of 33.8˚A shows optimized confinement effect with trans-poly(ethylene oxide)and cis-poly(ethylene oxide)conformation,which offers great significance in ion conduction.Our design of poly(ethylene oxide)-threaded architecture provides a platform and paves a way to the rational design of next-generation high-performance porous electrolytes.

DFT Study of Mechanism of Extraction Reaction Between Germylene Carbene （H2Ge=C：） and Its Derivatives and Ethylene Oxide

The mechanism of the oxide extraction reaction between singlet germylene carbene and its derivatives X2Ge=C： （X=H, F, Cl, CH3） and ethylene oxide has been investigated with B3LYP/6-311G（d,p） method. The results show that this kind of reaction has similar mechanism, the shift of 2p lone electron pair of O in ethylene oxide to the 2p unoccupied orbital of C in X2Ge=C： gives a p→p donor-acceptor bond, thereby leading to the formation of intermediate. As the p→p donor-acceptor bond continues to strengthen, that is the C-O bond continues to shorten, the intermediate generates product （P＋C2H4） via transition state. It is the substituent electronegativity that mainly affect the extraction reactions. When the substituent electronegativity is greater, the energy barrier is lower, and the reaction rate is greater.

SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF AMPHIPHILIC GRAFT COPOLYMER CONTAINING MICROPHASE SEPARATED AND LONG POLY(ETHYLENE OXIDE) SIDE CHAIN STRUCTURES

Acryloyl terminated Poly (ethyleneoxide)macromonomers (PEO-A) with different PEO chain lengths have been prepared by deactivation of PEO alkoxide with acryloyl chloride. A new kind of amphiphilic polystyrene-g-poly (ethylene oxide)graft copolymer containing both microphase separated and PEO side chain structures has been synthesized from radical copolymerization of PEO-A macromonomer with styrene. After careful purification by a newly-developed method called 'selective dissolution', the well-defined structure of the purified copolymers was confirmed by IR, ~1H-NMR and GPC. Various experimental parameters controlling the copolymerization were studied in detail. The results indicated that the feed ratio of styrene to macromonomer(S/M) was the most important determining factor for the composition of the copolymers. A detailed 'comb- model' was proposed to describe the molecular structure of the graft copolymers. Finally, this amphiphilic graft copolymers may readily form microphase separated structures as clearly indicated by transmission electron microscopy.

Enhanced Electrochemical Performance of Poly(ethylene oxide)Composite Polymer Electrolyte via Incorporating Lithiated Covalent Organic Framework

The lithiated covalent organic framework(named TpPa-SO_(3) Li),which was prepared by a mild chemical lithiation strategy,was introduced in poly(ethylene oxide)(PEO)to produce the composite polymer electrolytes(CPEs).Li-ion can transfer along the PEO chain or across the layer of TpPa-SO_(3) Li within the nanochannels,resulting in a high Li-ion conductivity of3.01×10^(-4)S/cm at 60℃.When the CPE with 0.75 wt.%TpPa-SO_(3) Li was used in the LiFePO_(4)‖Li solid-state battery,the cell delivered a stable capacity of 125 mA·h/g after 250 cycles at 0.5 C,60℃.In comparison,the cell using the CPE without TpPa-SO_(3) Li exhibited a capacity of only 118 mA·h/g.

RING OPENING COPOLYMERIZATION OF SUCCINIC ANHYDRIDE-ETHYLENE OXIDE BY Al(Ⅲ) ORGANOMETALLIC CATALYSTS

Ring opening copolymerization of succinic anhydride (SA) with ethylene oxide (EO)was successfully carried out by using a series of aluminum-based catalyst in 1,4-dioxane at62±2℃. The results showed that in-situ AlR_3-H_2O (R=ethyl, iso-butyl) catalysts gavehigher molecular weight (M_w～10~4), while Al(OR)_3 catalysts gave the higher alternatingcopolymer structure with slightly lower molecular weight. The in-situ AlR_3-H_2O systemshave been evaluated in more detail for the reaction which showed the optimum H_2O/Almolar ratio to be 0.5. The copolymers with different composition (F_(SA)/F_(EO)= 36/64to 45/55 mol/mol) were synthesized by using different monomer feed ratio. The melt-ing point (T_m), glass transition temperature (T_g) and enthalpy of fusion (ΔH_f) of thesecopolymers are depended on the copolymer composition and in the range of 87～102℃,-12～-18℃, and 37～66J/g, respectively. The second heating scan of DSC also in-dicated that the higher alternating copolymer was more easily recrystallized. The onsetdecomposition temperature was more than 300℃ under nitrogen and influenced by thecopolymer composition.

RANDOM COPOLYMER OF PROPYLENE OXIDE AND ETHYLENE OXIDE PREPARED BY DOUBLE METAL CYANIDE COMPLEX CATALYST

Copolymerization of propylene oxide (PO) and ethylene oxide (EO) using double metal cyanide (DMC) complex as the catalyst was carried out. The structure of random copolymers was confirmed by C-13-NMR and IR spectra. H-1-NMR analysis shows that the EO content in the copolymer is the same as that in the initial monomer feed. Moderate molecular weight copolymers with various EO content were obtained and their values of molecular weight distribution (MWD) fell in the range of 1.21-1.55. It was found that the molecular weight of copolymers is controlled by the mass ratio of EO+PO to initiator moles used, The reaction rate as well as polymer yield decrease with increasing EO content in the feed composition.

Advances in high carbon dioxide separation performance of poly(ethylene oxide)-based membranes

Poly(ethylene-oxide)(PEO)-based membranes have attracted much attention recently for CO2 separation because CO2 is highly soluble into PEO and shows high selectivity over other gases such as CH4 and N2.Unfortunately,those membranes are not strong enough mechanically and highly crystalline,which hinders their broader applications for separation membranes.In this review discussions are made,as much in detail as possible,on the strategies to improve gas separation performance of PEO-based membranes.Some of techniques such as synthesis of graft copolymers that contain PEO,cross-linking of polymers and blending with long chains polymers contributed significantly to improvement of membrane.Incorporation of ionic liquids/nanoparticles has also been found effective.However,surface modification of nanoparticles has been done chemically or physically to enhance their compatibility with polymer matrix.As a result of all such efforts,an excellent performance,i.e.,CO2 permeability up to 200 Barrer,CO2/N2 selectivity up to 200 and CO2/CH4 selectivity up to 70,could be achieved.Another method is to introduce functional groups into PEO-based polymers which boosted CO2 permeability up to 200 Barrer with CO2/CH4 selectivity between 40 and 50.The CO2 permeability of PEO-based membranes increases,without much change in selectivity,when the length of ethylene oxide is increased.

Heterogeneous dynamic modeling and simulation of an industrial ethylene oxide reactor experiencing catalyst deactivation

This paper investigates steady-state and dynamic simulation of an industrial fixed-bed ethylene oxide reactor. A mathematical heterogeneous one-dimensional model is developed for simulation of reactor performance in the presence of long term deactivation of silver/a-alumina catalyst. In this paper, steady-state model of the reactor is solved and results of steady state simulation are fed to dynamic simulator as initial condition. When results of dynamic simulation are compared with industrial reactor data, it is found that there were good agreements between simulation results and industrial data. The proposed model is also validated by industrial process data for a period of 1100 operating days.

Copolymerization Kinetics of Ethylene Oxide and Propylene Oxide

The copolymerization kinetics of ethylene oxide and propylene oxide in an atomizing-circulation reactorunder semi-continuous operation is studied which is of great importance for molecular designation. The kineticparameters are obtained by numerical optimization of the kinetic model.

Amphiphilic Polyphosphazene with Poly(ethylene oxide) Side Chains Prepared through the Decker-Forster Reaction

Poly （4- methylphenoxyphosphnzene ） -graft-poly （ ethylene oxide ） （ PPZ-g- PEO ）, a novel amphiphilie grafting polymer was prepared via the Decker-Forster reaction. It is found that the graft efficiency increased with extension of reaction time. Low molecular weight of poly （ ethylene oxide ） favored the grafting reaction. The grafted polymer has two different glass transition temperatures（ Tg） with those of pure poly（ 4-methyl- phenoxy-phopsphazene ） and PEO. The emulsifying ability of grafted polymer was studied with benzene-water mixtare. The emulsifying volumes increased with the decreasing of PEO＇ s molecular weight. The contact angle of film forming from grafted polymer decreased after introduction of PEO grafting chain.

Electrical Percolation of Carbon Black Filled Poly (ethylene oxide)Composites in Relation to the Matrix Morphology

The present work studies the electrical conduction performance of carbon black (CB)filled poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) composites. The addition of CB leads to reduced matrixcrystallinity as the fillers which are partly situated inside the lamellae and hinder the growth of PEOcrystallites. As a result, the electrical percolation behavior is related with the matrix morphology.

CONDUCTING BLENDS OF POLY (2-VINYL PYRIDINE) AND POLYETHYLENE OXIDE WITH HIGH MOLECULAR WEIGHT

Ionic, electronic and mixed (ionic-electronic) conductivities of blends of poly(2-vinyl pyridine) (P2VP) and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) with high molecular weight after doped with LiClO4, TCNQ or LiClO4 and TCNQ were investigated. Effects of LiClO4 and TCNQ concentrations on the conductivity of PEO/P2VP/LiClO4 or TCNQ blend were studied. The ionic conductivity of PEO/P2VP/LiClO4 blend increases with increasing PEO content. At a Li/ethylene bride molar ratio of 0.10 and a TCNQ/2-vinyl pyridine molar ratio of 0.5, the mixed conductivity of PEO/P2VP/LiClO4/TCNQ is higher than the total of ionic conductivity of PEO/P2VP/LiClO4 and electronic conductivity of PEO/P2VP/TCNQ when the weight ratio of PEO and P2VP is 6/4 or 5/5. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) on the broken cross-section of the PEO/P2VP/LiClO4 blend and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results show that LiClO4 could act as a compatibilizer in the blend.

ULTRASONIC BEHAVIOR OF EPOXY RESINS/POLY (ETHYLENE OXIDE) BLENDS CURED WITH PHTHALIC ANHYDRIDE

By means of ultrasonic attenuation apparatus, the ultrasonic velocity and attenuation ofanhydride-cured epoxy resins (EP)/poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO) blends were measured on thebasis of pulse-echo method. It was found that the sonic velocity of the blends decreased as thetemperature increased, but attenuation coefficient increased and possessed a peak value. Largervelocity and smaller attenuation coefficient(α)can be obtained from perfect crosslinking networkstructures of pure DGEBA cured with phthalic anhydride(PA). As for cured DGEBA/PEO blendsystems,sonic velocity decreased as a function of PEO concentration,but attenuation coefficient(α) increased.

Simulation and assessment of manufacturing ethylene carbonate from ethylene oxide in multiple process routes

Ethylene oxide(EO)is an important raw material for producing ethylene carbonate(EC).However,the traditional method for the separation of EO from mixture gas by water in the refining process is high energy consumption.In this paper,two processes of manufacturing EC from EO mixture gas were studied by process simulation.Two processes for producing EC from EO mixture as raw materials without EO purification,called the OSAC process and the Modified OSAC process,were developed and assessed systematically.Both processes use EC as the absorbent to capture EO,avoiding the separation process of EO from solution.For comparisons,the EC producing process containing EO absorption by water,EO refinement and carbonylation process were also modeled,which was called the ERC process.Three schemes were designed for the EO absorber using EC as absorbent.Compared with the initial absorber scheme,the optimal liquid–vapor ratio is reduced from 1.66 to 1.45(mass).Moreover,the mass distribution analysis for the three processes were carried out in the form of the material chain.It was found that,compared with the ERC process,the energy consumption of the OSAC and the Modified OSAC process is reduced by 56.89%and 30.03%,respectively.This work will provide helpful information for the industrialization of the OSAC process.

In-situ Observation of the Growth of Fibrous and Dendritic Crystals in Quasi-2-dimensional Poly(ethylene oxide) Ultrathin Films

Crystal growth processes of poly（ethylene oxide） were followed from the original nucleation sites by using atomic force microscopy. Two distinct quasi-2-dimensional crystals about 4 nm thick were obtained from as-spun polymer ultrathin films： fibrous crystals, generated by the sheafing field via spin-coating, coexist with con- ventional dendrites. The growth of the two structures is dominated by diffusion limited aggregation, though the growth rate of the fibrous crystals is around one order of magnitude faster than that of the dendrites. The fibrous crystals are more stable than the dendritic ones.

CHARACTERIZATION OF AMPHIPHILIC AND MICROPHASE SEPARATED GRAFT COPOLYMERS Ⅱ SURFACE CHARACTERIZATION AND IN VITRO BLOOD-COMPATIBILITY ASSESSMENT OF POLYSTYRENE-GRAFT-ω-STEARYLPOLY (ETHYLENE OXIDE)

This paper reported the research results concerning the surface characterization ofpolystyrene-graft-w-stearyl poly(ethylene oxide) (PS-g-SPEO) by means of XPS,contactangle measurement and TEM, and its in vitro blood compatibility assessment by measuringthe plasma recalcification time (RT) and partial thromboplastin time (PTT). The XPSresults demonstrated that the surface and bulk composition of the PS-g-SPEO graftcopolymers differ remarkably from each other,and that SPEO component was constantlyenriched at the copolymer/air interface. Contact angle studies indicated that the surfacewater wettability can be adjusted effectively by changing the composition of the copolymer.PS-g-SPEO graft copolymers can undergo microphase separation as clearly illustrated byTEM photographs. The relationship between the surface properties of PS-g-SPEO graftcopolymer and its blood compatibility was also discussed.

The interphasial degradation of 4.2 V-class poly(ethylene oxide)-based solid batteries beyond electrochemical voltage limit

Solid-state polymer electrolytes(SPEs)have attracted increasing attention due to good interfacial contact,light weight,and easy manufacturing.However,the practical application of SPEs such as the most widely studied poly(ethylene oxide)(PEO)in high-energy solid polymer batteries is still challenging,and the reasons are yet elusive.Here,it is found that the mismatch between PEO and 4.2 V-class cathodes is beyond the limited electrochemical window of PEO in the solid Li Ni_(1/3)Mn_(1/3)Co_(1/3)O_(2)(NMC)-PEO batteries.The initial oxidation of PEO initiates remarkable surface reconstruction of NMC grains in solid batteries that are different from the situation in liquid electrolytes.Well-aligned nanovoids are observed in NMC grains during the diffusion of surface reconstruction layers towards the bulk in solid batteries.The substantial interphasial degradation,therefore,blocks smooth Li+transport across the NMC-PEO interface and causes performance degradation.A thin yet effective Li F-containing protection layer on NMC can effectively stabilize the NMC-PEO interface with a greatly improved lifespan of NMC|PEO|Li batteries.This work deepens the understanding of degradations in high-voltage solid-state polymer batteries.

UNMIXING KINETICS AND ITS MORPHOLOGY OF POLY ( ETHYLENE OXIDE) WITH POLYETHERSULPHONES BLENDS

Unmixing kinetics in a binary polymer mixture of polyethersulphones with poly (ethylene oxide) by spinodal decomposition has been investigated with time-resolved light scattering and microscope methods. The results showed that time evolution of scattered light intensity is of an exponential growth The maximum growth rate R(qm) of phase separation has been obtained. The experimental data did not satisfy the condition that the plot of R(q)/q^2 vs q^2 should be linear For unmixing system annealing at 30℃ for three hours, its morphology manifested dish structure The experimental data of the Bragg spacing D_m can be correlated with a straight line which expresses the power-law relation, D_m=bl~α

Synthesis, Purification and Characterization of Amphiphilic and Microphase Separated Graft Copolymer Polystyrene-g-Poly(ethylene oxide)

The present paper covers the poly (ethylene oxide) macromer with vinyl benzyl terminal group (PEO-VB) prepared by deactivation of the alkoxide function of mono-functional 'living' PEO chains with vinyl benzyl chloride (VBC). The obtained macromers were subjected to careful purification and detailed characterization. A new kind of amphiphilic polystyrene-g-poly(ethylene oxide) (PS-g-PEO) with both mi-crophase separated and PEO side chains was synthesized from radical copolymerization of PEO-VB macromer with styrene monomer. An improved purification method, referred as 'selective dissolvation', was established for the isolation of graft copolymers from the grafting products, and the purity and yield of the purified copolymers were satisfactory. The well-defined structure of the purified copolymers was confirmed by IR, 1H NMR and GPC. The bulk composition of the graft copolymers was determined by a well-established first derivative UV spectrometry. Various experimental parameters controlling the copolymerization were also studied. The results indicate that the feed ratio of macromer to styrene (M/S) was the most important factor in determining the composition of the copolymers. Thus a series of PS-g-PEO with a wide range of bulk compositions were obtained simply by adjusting the value of M/S. As clearly indicated by transmission electron microscopy, this amphiphilic graft copolymers may readily form microphase separated structures.