LLE: Adding Functional Flavors to Batteries via Polymer Design

Molecular engineering tools excel at imparting transformative functions into polymers for cutting-edge technologies such as plastic recycling, soft actuators, energy storage, and wearable electronics. This presentation highlights our adaptations designing functional polymers for battery applications, including polymer electrolytes, electrode binder, and tailored components for wearable batteries. First, polymer network electrolytes offer high dimensional stability for batteries operating at elevated temperatures, despite their moderate room-temperature ionic conductivity. We impart reprocessability and recyclability into network electrolytes, potentially addressing the compatibility with existing manufacture methods and enabling material sustainability. Second, conventional electrode binders provide limited performance gains despite extensive reformulations. We molecularly redesigned a binder to be both ionically and electronically conductive, demonstrating superior performance in Li-S batteries compared to traditional PVDF binders. Third, wearable electronics generally demand flexible power sources, often limited by rigid components. Polymer-based components including electrolytes and electrodes demonstrate effectiveness in enabling stretchable batteries. By intricate molecular engineering and tailoring, we designed various polymer components to enable flexible and stretchable batteries with minimized environment impact. 

Speaker Biography:

Dr. Yangju Lin obtained his B.S. in Chemistry in 2012 and M.S. in Polymer Chemistry and Physics in 2015, both from Xiamen University. During his M.S. research, he worked with Prof. Wengui Weng on self-healing and stress-sensing polymers. He earned his Ph.D. in 2020 at Duke University under the guidance of Prof. Stephen Craig, where he focused on the molecular-level engineering of stress-responsive materials. Following his doctoral studies, Dr. Lin conducted postdoctoral studies in Prof. Zhenan Bao’s group at Stanford University, where he specialized in the molecular design of polymer materials for batteries. Currently, Dr. Yangju Lin is an Assistant Professor in the Chemistry Department at the University of Waterloo. His research interests include mechanistic polymer design, sustainable polymers development, and the design of polymer materials for batteries.