Plasma assisted nanoparticle dispersion in polymeric solutions for the production of electrospun lithium battery separators

Electrospun nanofibrous mats loaded with inorganic nanoparticles can find application as separators for lithium-ion batteries. A good disaggregation of nanoadditive in the starting polymeric solution is a necessary condition to obtain fibers with homogeneous dispersion of nanoparticles, thus with improved mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. In this work atmospheric pressure non-equilibrium plasma was applied to polymeric solutions to evaluate its effects on nanoparticle dispersion for obtaining electrospun fibers loaded with homogeneously dispersed nanoparticles. To this aim, different kinds of plasma treatments and procedures were implemented and their effect on particle distribution in electrospun fibers was investigated. We demonstrated that plasma is a valuable and effective way to favour nanoparticles dispersion in polymeric solutions. © 2013 IEEE.