Bio-Based Solid Electrolytes Bearing Cyclic Carbonates for Solid-State Lithium Metal Batteries.

Green resources for lithium-based batteries excite many researchers due to their eco-friendly nature. In this work, a sustainable bio-based solid-state electrolyte was developed based on carbonated soybean oil (CSBO), obtained by organocatalyzed coupling of CO2 to epoxidized soybean oil. CSBO coupled with lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide salt on a bio-based cellulose separator resulted in free-standing membranes. Those membranes on electrochemical measurements exhibited ionic conductivity of around 10-3  S cm-1 at 100 °C and around 10-6  S cm-1 at room temperature with wide electrochemical stability window (up to 4.6 V vs. Li/Li+ ) and transference number up to 0.39 at RT. Further investigations on the galvanostatic charge-discharge of LiFePO4 cathodes with CSBO-based electrolyte membranes and lithium metal anodes delivered the gravimetric capacity of 112 and 157 mAh g-1 at RT and 60 °C, respectively, providing a promising direction to further develop bio-based solid electrolytes for sustainable solid-state lithium batteries.

Poly(hydroxyurethane) Adhesives and Coatings: State-of-the-Art and Future Directions.

Polyurethane (PU) adhesives and coatings are widely used to fabricate high-quality materials due to their excellent properties and their versatile nature, which stems from the wide range of commercially available polyisocyanate and polyol precursors. This polymer family has traditionally been used in a wide range of adhesive applications including the bonding of footwear soles, bonding of wood (flooring) to concrete (subflooring), in the automotive industry for adhering different car parts, and in rotor blades, in which large surfaces are required to be adhered. Moreover, PUs are also frequently applied as coatings/paints for automotive finishes and can be applied over a wide range of substrates such as wood, metal, plastic, and textiles. One of the major drawbacks of this polymer family lies in the use of toxic isocyanate-based starting materials. In the context of the REACH regulation, which places restrictions on the use of substances containing free isocyanates, it is now urgent to find greener routes to PUs. While non-isocyanate polyurethanes (NIPUs) based on the polyaddition of poly(cyclic carbonate)s to polyamines have emerged in the past decade as greener alternatives to conventional PUs, their industrial implementation is at an early stage of development. In this review article, recent advances in the application of NIPUs in the field of adhesives and coatings are summarized. The article also draws attention to the opportunities and challenges of implementing NIPUs at the industrial scale.