A. Adsorption and Microstructure of Sodium Carboxymethyl Cellulose and Carbon Black Mixture for Lithium-ion Battery

The role of polymer binders has been noticed in LIB slurries as it sustains the microstructure through physical or chemical adsorption to the particles during the electrode processing. We investigate the adsorption behavior by observing the dynamics of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as a model system where the interaction between particle and polymer induces an inevitable conformational change of polymer. Employing broadband dielectric spectroscopy, the dynamic properties of CMC and the change of CMC dielectric responses with the carbon black (CB) were examined in detail.

B. Behind the Ion Conduction Mechanism in Solid Polymer Electrolytes 

Solid polymer electrolytes are potential replacements for liquid electrolytes to overcome safety concerns. However, their ionic conductivity at room temperature remains low due to their high crystallinity. The main limiting factor for low ionic conductivity is the slow chain motion in the crystalline phase, which hinders ion transport through segmental motion in the amorphous regions. From this respective, we investigate the effect of molecular weight and composition on the structure and ionic conductivity. And we study a correlation between the segmental dynamics and charge carrier relaxation by considering the microstructure.

C. Coatings for Sustainable Energy

Coating is an essential process in many chemical industry including battery electrode production process. In the Li-ion battery process, slurry suspension is coated on a substrate where the dispersion stability of slurry suspension is critical. We investigate the change of microstructure in complex fluid of slurry suspensions and their structural evolution during the coating and drying.