Plasma treatment of an electrochemical membrane

Abstract

A method for treating an electrochemical membrane includes providing a porous film having a first outer surface and a second opposed outer surface, and treating at least a portion of the first outer surface with an air plasma jet at atmospheric pressure to functionalize the at least a portion of the first outer surface with a plurality of oxygen functional groups. A battery separator has an ionically conductive separator film having a first functionalized outer surface with a plurality of oxygen atoms providing one to twenty percent of the total atoms present on the surface to provide a greater electrolytic uptake than a non-functionalized film. An electrochemical membrane has an ionically conductive microporous film with at least a portion of the first side having a plurality of polar functional groups introduced by air plasma treatment at atmospheric pressure.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.