Gas Permeation through Polystyrene-Poly(ethylene oxide) Block Copolymers

Lithium air batteries are a potential technology for affordable energy storage. They consist of a lithium metal anode and a porous air cathode separated by a solid polymer electrolyte membrane, such as PEO/LiTFSI (PEO $=$ poly(ethylene oxide), LiTFSI $=$ lithium bis-trifluoromethane sulfonimide). For extended operation of such a battery, the polymer electrolyte must conduct lithium ions while blocking electrons and gases present in air. In order to maintain a pressure difference the membrane must be mechanically robust, which can be achieved by incorporating the PEO into a block copolymer with a glassy block such as PS (PS $=$ polystyrene). To protect the lithium electrode, the membrane must have low permeability to gases in air such as CO$_{\mathrm{2}}$, N$_{\mathrm{2}}$, and O$_{\mathrm{2}}$. We have therefore studied the permeation of pure gases through a PS-PEO block copolymer. A high molecular weight, symmetric block copolymer with a lamellar morphology was used to cast free-standing membranes. Gas permeability was measured through these membranes with a standard, pressure-based technique. A model was developed to account for transport through the polymer membrane consisting of semi-crystalline PEO lamellae and amorphous PS lamellae. PEO crystallinity was extracted from the permeation model and compares well with values from differential scanning calorimetry measurements.