A review of Functional Separators for Lithium Metal Battery Applications

Figure 16. 
(
a
) Illustration for preparation steps of SiSE. (
b
) Comparison of SiSE to separator/liquid 
electrolyte system. Reprinted with permission from [161]. Copyright (2016) John Wiley and Sons. 
In the GPE field, existing cross-linking reactions have obstacles created from thermal initiation 
caused by free radicals and residual monomers. To avoid these disadvantages, Yang and co-workers 
reported a novel initiator-free one-pot synthesis strategy to fabricate a tough and compact 3D 
network GPE using a ring-opening polymerization reaction [148] (Figure 17a,c). They used the 
diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A (DEBA) as a supporting framework to increase the mechanical 
strength. Meanwhile, poly(ethylene glycol) diglycidyl ether and diamino-poly(propylene oxide) 
were cross-linked through this framework for fast ion transport. The compact structure of the 3D-
GPE forced the SEI layer to be formed homogeneously, obstructing the growth of dendrites. The as-
made 3D-GPE successfully suppressed the growth of dendrites, created a stable interface, and 
complemented the ionic conductivity. Therefore, a 3D-GPE-based battery exhibited better 
electrochemical performance than a battery using liquid electrolytes and typical separators. 
Figure 16.
(
a
) Illustration for preparation steps of SiSE. (
b
) Comparison of SiSE to separator
/
liquid
electrolyte system. Reprinted with permission from [
161
]. Copyright (2016) John Wiley and Sons.
In the GPE field, existing cross-linking reactions have obstacles created from thermal initiation
caused by free radicals and residual monomers. To avoid these disadvantages, Yang and co-workers
reported a novel initiator-free one-pot synthesis strategy to fabricate a tough and compact 3D network
GPE using a ring-opening polymerization reaction [
148
] (Figure
17
a,c). They used the diglycidyl ether
of bisphenol-A (DEBA) as a supporting framework to increase the mechanical strength. Meanwhile,
poly(ethylene glycol) diglycidyl ether and diamino-poly(propylene oxide) were cross-linked through
this framework for fast ion transport. The compact structure of the 3D-GPE forced the SEI layer to
be formed homogeneously, obstructing the growth of dendrites. The as-made 3D-GPE successfully
suppressed the growth of dendrites, created a stable interface, and complemented the ionic conductivity.
Therefore, a 3D-GPE-based battery exhibited better electrochemical performance than a battery using
liquid electrolytes and typical separators.

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Materials