Performance of through-hole anodic aluminum oxide membrane as a separator for lithium-ion battery

• Published in: Journal of membrane science 2014-07, Vol.461, p.22-27
• Main Authors: Chen, Jingjuan, Wang, Suqing, Ding, Liangxin, Jiang, Yanbin, Wang, Haihui
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: AAO membrane; Aluminum oxide; Anodic; Chemistry; Colloidal state and disperse state; Electrolytes; Exact sciences and technology; General and physical chemistry; Graphite; LiFePO4; Lithium-ion batteries; Lithium-ion battery; Membranes; Porosity; Separator; Separators
• ISSN: 0376-7388; 1873-3123
• DOI: 10.1016/j.memsci.2014.03.005

A high porosity through-hole anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membrane has been prepared by a two-step anodization procedure. The as-prepared AAO membrane is around 60μm thick with a uniform pore size of about 80nm. Moreover, we also found that the AAO membrane not only has a good mechanical strength but also shows better performances on electrolyte infiltration and retention compared with the commercial polymer separator. The LiFePO4/graphite battery using the AAO separator exhibits better cycling stability, rate capability and low-temperature performance than those using the polymer separators. The excellent electrochemical performances can be attributed to good hydrophilic characteristic, high porosity and through-pore structure of the AAO separators used. Therefore, the AAO separator is very promising to be applied in lithium-ion batteries. •Through-hole AAO membrane with the thickness of 60μm and high porosity of 72% is prepared.•The AAO separator infiltrated with electrolyte exhibits high ionic conductivity.•The as-prepared AAO membrane is used as a separator for lithium-ion batteries.•The batteries using the AAO separators show excellent electrochemical properties.