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Title: Ion-Conductive, Viscosity-Tunable Hexagonal Boron Nitride Nanosheet Inks

Journal Article · · Advanced Functional Materials

Liquid-phase exfoliation of layered solids holds promise for the scalable production of 2D nanosheets. When combined with suitable solvents and stabilizing polymers, the rheology of the resulting nanosheet dispersions can be tuned for a variety of additive manufacturing methods. While significant progress is made in the development of electrically conductive nanosheet inks, minimal effort is applied to ion-conductive nanosheet inks despite their central role in energy storage applications. In this work, the formulation of viscosity-tunable hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) inks compatible with a wide range of printing methods that span the spectrum from low-viscosity inkjet printing to high-viscosity blade coating is demonstrated. The inks are prepared by liquid-phase exfoliation with ethyl cellulose as the polymer dispersant and stabilizer. Thermal annealing of the printed structures volatilizes the polymer, resulting in a porous microstructure and the formation of a nanoscale carbonaceous coating on the hBN nanosheets, which promotes high wettability to battery electrolytes. The final result is a printed hBN nanosheet film that possesses high ionic conductivity, chemical and thermal stability, and electrically insulating character, which are ideal characteristics for printable battery components such as separators. Indeed, lithium-ion battery cells based on printed hBN separators reveal enhanced electrochemical performance that exceeds commercial polymer separators.

Research Organization:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Electrical Energy Storage (CEES); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); Sao Paulo Research Foundation; National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357; 2017/15882-0; CMMI-1727846; AC02‐06CH1157
OSTI ID:
1767455
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1546093
Journal Information:
Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 29, Issue 39; ISSN 1616-301X
Publisher:
WileyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 16 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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