Ionic liquid incorporated nanocomposite polymer electrolytes for rechargeable lithium ion battery: A way to achieve improved electrochemical and interfacial properties

An ionic liquid incorporated nanocomposite electrolytes are prepared using solution cast technique by immobilizing a solution of lithium N,N-bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) in N-ethyl-N-methylimidazolium - bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl) imide (EMImTFSI) ionic liquid (IL) with added mixtures of organic solvent and nanofiller such as acetonitrile and nanochitosan (32 nm) into a poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) matrix. The achieved extreme ionic conductivity of ionic liquid based electrolyte is in the range of 10(-2) S cm(-1) which is one order higher than that of (PEO)(8)LiTFSI-10 wt% NC system. Cyclic voltammetry and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) analyses indicates that the prepared electrolytes possesses an excellent electrochemical stability of 3.9 V. These unique properties allow the effective use of these membranes as active separators for the development of advanced lithium ion batteries. (C) 2016 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Improvement of the electromechanical performance of carboxymethylcellulose-based actuators by graphene nanoplatelet loading

In this article, the effects of graphene loading (0.1, 0.2, 0.3 wt%) on both the electromechanical and mechanical properties of carboxymethylcellulose (CMC)-based actuators were investigated. CMC-based graphene-loaded actuators were prepared by using 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide. The synthesized graphene-loaded actuators were characterized by Fourier transform infrared, X-ray diffraction analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and tensile tests. Electromechanical properties of the actuators were obtained under DC excitation voltages of 1, 3, 5, and 7 V with a laser displacement sensor. According to the obtained results, the ultimate tensile strength of CMC-based actuators containing 0.3 wt% graphene was higher than that of unloaded actuators by approximately 72.8 %. In addition, the Young's modulus value of the graphene-loaded actuators increased continuously with increasing graphene content. Under a DC excitation voltage of 5 V, the maximum tip displacement of 0.2 wt% graphene-loaded actuators increased by about 15 % compared to unloaded actuators