@article{luiso_petrecca_williams_christopher_velev_pourdeyhimi_fedkiw_2022, title={Structure-Performance Relationships of Li-Ion Battery Fiber-Based Separators}, volume={4}, ISSN={["2637-6105"]}, url={https://doi.org/10.1021/acsapm.2c00216}, DOI={10.1021/acsapm.2c00216}, abstractNote={Lithium-ion battery separators are receiving increased consideration from the scientific community. Many research efforts trend toward creating high-performance fiber-based battery separators with a small and uniform pore size to maximize ionic conductivity and cell discharge capacity. Here, we show that not only the pore size but also the pore size distribution has an important effect on these electrochemical properties. In this work, we studied nonwoven membranes fabricated from a single polymer, poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF), with different pore sizes and pore size distributions using three different techniques (meltblowing, electrospinning, and shear spinning). We evaluate their performance as separators in Li-ion cells. Although meltblowing is commonly employed to produce commercial microfibers/nanofibers, electrospinning has been studied mostly in the academic literature. Shear spinning is an emerging method to fabricate nanofibrous material where, for this study, the morphology of the resulting PVDF membranes may be controlled from fibrous-like to nano-sheet-like with subsequent effects on the electrochemical properties. We show that the smaller the pore size and the wider the pore size distribution, the higher are the electrolyte uptake and ionic conductivity of the mats, resulting in improved in-use discharge capacity and rate capability of Li/LiCoO2 cells.}, number={5}, journal={ACS APPLIED POLYMER MATERIALS}, publisher={American Chemical Society (ACS)}, author={Luiso, Salvatore and Petrecca, Michael J. and Williams, Austin H. and Christopher, Jerush and Velev, Orlin D. and Pourdeyhimi, Behnam and Fedkiw, Peter S.}, year={2022}, month={May}, pages={3676–3686} }
 @article{luiso_williams_petrecca_roh_velev_fedkiw_2021, title={Poly(Vinylidene Difluoride) Soft Dendritic Colloids as Li-Ion Battery Separators}, volume={168}, ISSN={["1945-7111"]}, url={https://doi.org/10.1149/1945-7111/abdfa7}, DOI={10.1149/1945-7111/abdfa7}, abstractNote={As an alternative to Li-ion battery (LIB) microporous membrane separators that are typically comprised of polyolefins, other materials and separator morphologies may yield increased cell performance. Here, we present a new class of LIB separators comprising poly(vinylidene difluoride) (PVDF)-based and highly branched, colloidal polymer particulates, called soft dendritic colloids, that are produced by shear-driven polymer precipitation within a turbulent nonsolvent flow followed by filtration. We show the morphology of the resulting PVDF particulates may be varied from fibrous dendritic colloids to thin and highly porous sheet-like particles. The use of PVDF leads to low thermal shrinkage (5% at 90 °C) and high tensile strength (<0.7% offset at 1000 psi), while the high porosity (up to 80%) and high particle surface area are responsible for high conductivity (1.2 mS cm −1 ) and electrolyte uptake (325%), and good cell capacity (112 mAh g −1 in Li/LiCoO 2 cell) with <10% loss after 50 cycles. Because shear-driven precipitation with filtration is a facile and versatile process to make a new class of polymeric LIB separators, soft dendritic colloids are promising candidates as separators for next-generation batteries.}, number={2}, journal={JOURNAL OF THE ELECTROCHEMICAL SOCIETY}, publisher={The Electrochemical Society}, author={Luiso, Salvatore and Williams, Austin H. and Petrecca, Michael J. and Roh, Sangchul and Velev, Orlin D. and Fedkiw, Peter S.}, year={2021}, month={Feb} }