A novel polyethylene terephthalate nonwoven reinforced polypropylene composite separator (PET/PP) with high thermal stability and low thermal shrinkage characteristic is developed through a scalable production process. In the composite separator, the electronspun polyethylene terephthalate nonwoven layer improves the electrolyte affinity and can sustain as the barrier layer after the shutdown of the polypropylene layer. Due to its high ionic conductivity, the PET/PP separator shows an excellent discharge capacity. In addition, the superior thermal stability of the separator significantly enhances the safety performance of the separator. Considering the feasibility of the large-scale production of the PET/PP separator and its superior battery performance, we expect that the novel separator could be a promising alternative to the existing commercial separators.
Keywords: PET nonwoven; electronspin; lithium ion battery; polypropylene; separator.