Portsmouth, UK, 2-4 September 2021 Processing and characterisation of water hyacinth cellulose nanofibres-based aluminium-ion battery separators.

Water hyacinth is an invasive plant that can be converted to high value cellulose nanofibers. This study presents battery separators prepared from water hyacinth cellulose nanofibres (WHCNF) via a freeze-thawing crosslinking method, using polyethylene glycol as a binder. The separators consist of 95 wt.%, 90 wt.%, 85 wt.% and 80 wt.% WHCNF. The thickness, wettability, electrolyte uptake, porosity and thermal stability of the separators are studied and compared with Celgard 2325, a commercial tri-layer separator. Also, tensile tests are carried out and an aluminium-ion cell is made to compare the performance of the different WHCNF separators using Nyquist plots and battery discharge curves. The results show that WHCNF separators have high thermal stability and wettability, making it a promising sustainable alternative material to petroleum-based polymeric commercial separators.