阅读说明：本技术 聚丙烯微孔膜及其制备方法和应用 (Polypropylene microporous membrane and preparation method and application thereof ) 是由 庞博 杜泽学 于 2019-09-26 设计创作，主要内容包括：提供一种聚丙烯微孔膜的制备方法,包括将聚丙烯与复合稀释剂混合得预混料,聚丙烯占预混料的25wt％～60wt％,复合稀释剂占预混料的40wt％～75wt％；预混料经熔融挤出、冷却成型后采用萃取剂除去复合稀释剂,然后热处理得聚丙烯微孔膜；其中,复合稀释剂包括高温良溶剂和高温不良溶剂,高温良溶剂选自十四醇、十六醇、十八醇、二十醇的一种或多种,高温不良溶剂选自苯甲醇、碳酸二苯酯、二苯甲酮和二甲基砜中的一种或多种,高温良溶剂占复合稀释剂的30wt％～60wt％,高温不良溶剂占复合稀释剂的40wt％～70wt％。通过采用特定的复合稀释剂,使所得聚丙烯微孔膜的孔径分布、无大孔缺陷,增强了隔膜力学强度,隔膜横向纵向力学强度差异性小,为隔膜安全性能提供保障,适用于作为锂电池隔膜材料。(The preparation method of the polypropylene microporous membrane comprises the steps of mixing polypropylene and a composite diluent to obtain a premix, wherein the polypropylene accounts for 25-60 wt% of the premix, and the composite diluent accounts for 40-75 wt% of the premix; the premix is subjected to melt extrusion, cooling molding, then the compound diluent is removed by adopting an extractant, and then the heat treatment is carried out to obtain a polypropylene microporous membrane; the composite diluent comprises a high-temperature good solvent and a high-temperature poor solvent, wherein the high-temperature good solvent is selected from one or more of tetradecanol, hexadecanol, octadecanol and eicosanol, the high-temperature poor solvent is selected from one or more of benzyl alcohol, diphenyl carbonate, benzophenone and dimethyl sulfone, the high-temperature good solvent accounts for 30-60 wt% of the composite diluent, and the high-temperature poor solvent accounts for 40-70 wt% of the composite diluent. By adopting the specific composite diluent, the obtained polypropylene microporous membrane has the advantages of pore size distribution, no macroporous defect, enhanced mechanical strength of the membrane, small difference of transverse and longitudinal mechanical strength of the membrane, guarantee for the safety performance of the membrane and suitability for being used as a lithium battery membrane material.)

1. A preparation method of a polypropylene microporous membrane is characterized by comprising the following steps:

mixing polypropylene and a compound diluent to obtain a premix, wherein the mass percent of the polypropylene in the premix is 25-60%, and the mass percent of the compound diluent in the premix is 40-75%;

the premix is subjected to melt extrusion and cooling molding to obtain a primary membrane;

removing the composite diluent in the primary membrane by using an extracting agent, and then carrying out heat treatment to obtain the polypropylene microporous membrane;

the composite diluent comprises a high-temperature good solvent and a high-temperature poor solvent, wherein the high-temperature good solvent is selected from one or more of tetradecanol, hexadecanol, octadecanol and eicosanol, the high-temperature poor solvent is selected from one or more of benzyl alcohol, diphenyl carbonate, benzophenone and dimethyl sulfone, the high-temperature good solvent accounts for 30-60% of the composite diluent by mass, and the high-temperature poor solvent accounts for 40-70% of the composite diluent by mass.

2. The preparation method according to claim 1, wherein during the cooling and forming, the polypropylene and the composite diluent undergo liquid-liquid phase separation, and wherein the maximum mass percentage concentration of the polypropylene in the liquid-liquid phase separation zone is 50% to 70%.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the polypropylene has an isotacticity of > 95%, a number average molecular weight of 50000-150000 Da, and a polydispersity of 6-8.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the melt extrusion temperature is 150 ℃ to 200 ℃.

5. The production method according to claim 1, wherein the melt-extruded premix is formed into a flat plate shape, and the cooling molding is performed in a cooling medium.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the extractant is selected from one or more of methanol, ethanol, propanol, petroleum ether, water and n-hexane.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the heat treatment temperature is 40 ℃ to 90 ℃ and the heat treatment time is 1min to 60 min.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the heat treatment medium used in the heat treatment is one or more selected from the group consisting of air, water, and n-hexane.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising stretching the primary membrane sheet and removing the composite diluent from the primary membrane sheet with an extractant.

10. The polypropylene microporous membrane prepared by the preparation method according to claims 1-9.

11. Use of the polypropylene microporous membrane according to claim 10 as a lithium battery separator.

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the technical field of high polymer material preparation, and particularly relates to a polypropylene microporous membrane, and a preparation method and application thereof.

Background

The lithium battery diaphragm is one of core materials in the lithium ion battery, and has the main function of separating a positive electrode and a negative electrode of the battery and simultaneously ensuring that lithium ions can freely pass between the positive electrode and the negative electrode.

Currently, lithium ion battery separators on the market mainly comprise dry-method unidirectional tensile separators, dry-method bidirectional tensile separators and wet-method separators. The main difference between these several membrane preparation methods is the pore-forming mechanism of the micropores. In China, the dry-process diaphragm almost realizes self-sufficiency. The dry process is to mix the polymer and additive material to form homogeneous melt at high temperature, to form lamellar structure under the action of tensile force during extrusion, to obtain hard elastic polymer film through heat treatment, to form slit micropores through stretching at certain temperature, and to obtain microporous film through heat setting. The method has the main advantages that no solvent is used in the production process, and the process is environment-friendly and pollution-free. However, the dry-method diaphragm is difficult to control in production, high in precision requirement, complex in used equipment, difficult to control in aperture and porosity, easy to cause micro short circuit in the battery, and low in safety and reliability of the battery.

Compared with a dry method, the diaphragm prepared by the wet method has a more excellent pore structure, higher porosity and more uniform pore size distribution compared with a dry method diaphragm, and the diaphragm has more excellent safety, mechanical property and product uniformity. The wet process is also called thermal phase separation process, and the process includes high temperature phase separation and low temperature phase separation, and through regulating temperature field, liquid-liquid phase separation of polymer and diluent, and subsequent eliminating diluent to prepare polymer film.

One of the difficulties in the wet preparation of polymer membrane cores is limited diluent selection. A large amount of reagent cannot be a good diluent for polymers such as polypropylene. Some of the reagents are non-solvents for polypropylene, which cannot be dissolved even when heated to high temperatures. By matching two reagents with different phase compatibilities with polypropylene to form a diluent system, the selective range of the diluent is greatly expanded, the liquid-liquid separation area is enlarged, the requirements of various membrane preparation projects are met more flexibly, and the pain points in the aspects of toxicity, chemical stability, cost and the like of the traditional diluent are overcome.

In the prior art, reports on the preparation of polypropylene microporous membranes exist, and the patent CN 103128975B regulates and controls the crystal form of polypropylene by controlling the drafting condition in the preparation process of polypropylene materials. Spherulites are not characterized by a scanning electron microscope after etching, and the polypropylene microporous membrane has better uniformity. However, the method has high requirements on the drafting condition, and the polypropylene prepared by stretching still has a one-way crack-shaped pore structure, which is not beneficial to improving the comprehensive mechanical property of the diaphragm; patent CN 105633328B discloses a polypropylene porous diaphragm of a lithium ion battery and a preparation method thereof, which adopts an in-situ composite mode, a hole-shaped modifier and a pore size regulator are added into polypropylene resin, the polypropylene porous diaphragm is prepared by heat setting after melting and sheet casting and bidirectional stretching of a mixture, and the addition of the modifier and the regulator is beneficial to the improvement of the porosity of the diaphragm and has good air permeability. However, the addition of the two agents reduces the controllability of the dry film-forming process and increases the pore size distribution of the film pores (60-300 nm). On the other hand, a large amount of organic solvent is used in the process, and the organic solvent is completely volatilized in the preparation process, so that serious pollution and harm are brought to the film preparation process; patent CN102604203A discloses an improved microporous polymer film, which is composed of polypropylene homopolymer, beta crystal nucleating agent, high molecular additive and inorganic modifier. The film has good uniformity, high permeability and strong dimensional stability, but has weak puncture resistance and overhigh porosity.

It is noted that the information disclosed in the foregoing background section is only for enhancement of background understanding of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not constitute prior art that is already known to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention mainly aims to overcome at least one defect of the prior art and provides a polypropylene microporous membrane, a preparation method and application thereof.

In order to achieve the purpose, the invention adopts the following technical scheme:

the invention provides a preparation method of a polypropylene microporous membrane, which comprises the following steps: mixing polypropylene and a compound diluent to obtain a premix, wherein the mass percent of the polypropylene in the premix is 25-60%, and the mass percent of the compound diluent in the premix is 40-75%; the premix is subjected to melt extrusion and cooling molding to obtain a primary membrane; removing the composite diluent in the primary membrane by using an extracting agent, and then carrying out heat treatment to obtain the polypropylene microporous membrane; the composite diluent comprises a high-temperature good solvent and a high-temperature poor solvent, wherein the high-temperature good solvent is selected from one or more of tetradecanol, hexadecanol, octadecanol and eicosanol, the high-temperature poor solvent is selected from one or more of benzyl alcohol, diphenyl carbonate, benzophenone and dimethyl sulfone, the high-temperature good solvent accounts for 30-60% of the composite diluent by mass, and the high-temperature poor solvent accounts for 40-70% of the composite diluent by mass.

According to one embodiment of the invention, during the cooling and forming process, the polypropylene and the composite diluent are subjected to liquid-liquid phase separation, wherein the maximum mass percentage concentration of the polypropylene corresponding to the liquid-liquid phase separation zone is 50-70%.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the polypropylene has an isotacticity of > 95%, a number average molecular weight of 50000-150000 Da and a polydispersity coefficient of 6-8.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the melt extrusion temperature is from 150 ℃ to 200 ℃.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the melt-extruded premix is formed into a flat plate shape, and the cooling molding is performed in a cooling medium.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the extractant is selected from one or more of methanol, ethanol, propanol, petroleum ether, water and n-hexane.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the temperature of the heat treatment is 40 to 90 ℃, and the time of the heat treatment is 1 to 60 min.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the heat treatment medium used for the heat treatment is one or more selected from the group consisting of air, water, and n-hexane.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the method further comprises the step of stretching the primary membrane, and then removing the composite diluent in the primary membrane by using an extracting agent.

The invention also provides the polypropylene microporous membrane obtained by the method.

The invention also provides application of the polypropylene microporous membrane as a lithium battery diaphragm.

According to the technical scheme, the polypropylene microporous membrane and the preparation method thereof have the advantages and positive effects that:

the polypropylene microporous membrane provided by the invention is prepared by a thermotropic phase separation method, and the method adopts a specific composite diluent to be compounded with polypropylene to obtain a polypropylene/composite diluent system with a wide liquid-phase separation zone, so that the system can still perform liquid-phase separation when the concentration of a polymer is higher in the phase separation process; in addition, the composite diluent adopted by the invention is a solid environment-friendly diluent at normal temperature, has no pungent smell, is suitable for large-scale industrial production, and has good industrial application prospect.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention and not to limit the invention.

FIG. 1 shows an equilibrium phase diagram of a polymer-diluent system;

FIG. 2 is a scanning electron micrograph of the polypropylene microporous membrane of example 1.

Detailed Description

The following presents various embodiments or examples in order to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention with reference to the description herein. These are, of course, merely examples and are not intended to limit the invention. The endpoints of the ranges and any values disclosed in the present application are not limited to the precise range or value, and such ranges or values should be understood to encompass values close to those ranges or values. For ranges of values, between the endpoints of each of the ranges and the individual points, and between the individual points may be combined with each other to yield one or more new ranges of values, which ranges of values should be considered as specifically disclosed herein.

The invention provides a preparation method of a polypropylene microporous membrane, which comprises the following steps: mixing polypropylene and a compound diluent to obtain a premix, wherein the mass percent of the polypropylene in the premix is 25-60%, and the mass percent of the compound diluent in the premix is 40-75%; the premix is subjected to melt extrusion and cooling molding to obtain a primary membrane; removing the composite diluent in the primary membrane by using an extracting agent, and then carrying out heat treatment to obtain the polypropylene microporous membrane; the composite diluent comprises a high-temperature good solvent and a high-temperature poor solvent, wherein the high-temperature good solvent is selected from one or more of tetradecanol, hexadecanol, octadecanol and eicosanol; the poor solvent at high temperature is selected from one or more of benzyl alcohol, diphenyl carbonate, benzophenone and dimethyl sulfone, and is preferably benzophenone; the high-temperature good solvent accounts for 30-60% of the composite diluent by mass; the high-temperature poor solvent accounts for 40-70% of the composite diluent by mass percent.

In accordance with the present invention, the thermal phase separation (TIPS) method for preparing polymer films essentially utilizes a specific polymer solvent, also known as a diluent, which is a solvent at high temperatures and a non-solvent at low temperatures, and the incompatibility that loses its solvent ability is due to the loss of thermal energy (i.e., heat as the driving force for phase separation). Since the diluent is non-volatile, it needs to be extracted from the finished product with an extractant that is a solvent for the diluent but a non-solvent for the polymer to form a microporous structure.

As described above, the polymer microporous membrane is prepared by the TIPS method mainly using a phase separation process. FIG. 1 shows an equilibrium phase diagram of a polymer-diluent system. As shown in FIG. 1, when the temperature is high, the polymer and the solvent form a uniform phase, and the polymer is in a high concentration region (. phi.) with the decrease in temperature_mRight CD line) shows a polymer melting point depression curve in a polymer low concentration region (phi)_mLine ABC on the left) is a liquid-liquid phase separation curve, and the region below the horizontal dashed line forms a two-phase region of polymer-rich (solid) and solvent-rich (liquid) phases. Phi is a_mThe point is called the monotectic point, at which the polymer crystalline state and the two-phase achieve a three-phase equilibrium, phi_mThe dots also indicate the demarcation points between the solid-liquid phase separation and the liquid-liquid phase separation regions.

It is known to those skilled in the art that different phase separation processes directly affect the microporous structure of the final material. For preparing the polypropylene microporous membrane used for lithium battery materials, the liquid-liquid phase separation can enable the final material to form a through bicontinuous microporous structure, and meanwhile, the higher the polymer concentration in the system is, the higher the porosity of the microporous membrane is, the smaller the pore diameter is, the pore diameter distribution is uniform, the mechanical property of the membrane is favorably improved, and the method is a phase separation process expected to occur. However, existing polymer-diluent systems tend to have a relatively narrow liquid-liquid phase separation zone, i.e., φ_mThe maximum polymer mass concentration of the liquid-liquid phase separation zone corresponding to the point is small, or the liquid-liquid phase separation phenomenon cannot be obtained, and the polypropylene crystallization is obvious. This makes it impossible to obtainThe microporous membrane with good permeability and a through bicontinuous structure cannot ensure that the microporous membrane has good mechanical strength and porosity at the same time, and the improvement of the membrane performance is limited.

The inventor of the invention finds that by adopting the composite diluent of the invention, utilizing the combination of a specific high-temperature solvent and a non-solvent and adjusting the component ratio, the polypropylene-composite diluent system can have a wider liquid-liquid phase separation zone, namely, the liquid-liquid phase separation can still occur under the condition of high polymer concentration. This is because by adjusting the combination and ratio of the solvent and the non-solvent in the diluent, the interaction parameters with the polymer can be adjusted, i.e., the compatibility and the interaction parameters can be qualitatively and quantitatively adjusted, so that the liquid-liquid phase separation zone can be regulated and controlled, thereby obtaining a wider liquid-liquid phase separation zone.

In some embodiments, the liquid-liquid phase separation zone φ_mThe maximum mass percentage concentration of the corresponding polypropylene is 50-70%. The polypropylene microporous membrane obtained by the invention has a through bicontinuous whole section structure and high porosity, has excellent air permeability and mechanical properties, and is particularly suitable for being used as a lithium battery diaphragm material.

According to the present invention, in some embodiments, the polypropylene has an isotacticity of > 95%, a number average molecular weight of 50000-150000 Da, and a polydispersity index of 6-8, i.e. a polydispersity index (PDI) ═ Mw/Mn of 6-8.

According to the invention, adjusting the specific preparation conditions and parameters of the polypropylene microporous membrane also has a certain influence on the final performance of the product.

Specifically, in some embodiments, the premix obtained after mixing the polypropylene and the compound diluent is melt-extruded through a screw extruder, and the melt-extrusion temperature is controlled to be 150 ℃ to 200 ℃. Then the melt-extruded premix is made into a flat plate shape by a spinneret plate, and is immersed into a cooling medium for solidification and molding to obtain the nascent membrane.

In some embodiments, the cooling medium includes, but is not limited to, a cooling fluid, preferably water, which may also be cooled directly in air.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises performing extraction treatment after the primary membrane is subjected to stretching treatment. Wherein the stretching process comprises transverse stretching and longitudinal stretching.

In some embodiments, the extractant includes, but is not limited to, methanol, ethanol, propanol, petroleum ether, water, n-hexane, and the like.

In some embodiments, the temperature of the heat treatment is 40 ℃ to 90 ℃ and the time of the heat treatment is 1min to 60 min. The heat treatment medium may be air, water, n-hexane, etc. The polypropylene microporous membrane of the invention is obtained after heat treatment.

The polypropylene microporous membrane obtained by the method is an asymmetric structure diaphragm with a through bicontinuous cross-section structure and gradient pores near the outer surface. The microporous membrane has excellent air permeability and mechanical properties, the gradient pore structure enables the outer pore diameter of the microporous membrane to be small, the inner pore diameter to be large, the mechanical properties are further improved, and the microporous membrane is particularly suitable for being used as a lithium battery diaphragm material. In addition, the polypropylene microporous membrane can be continuously and stably prepared in a screw extrusion mode, the preparation period is short, the process is simple and convenient, and the cost is low.

The compound diluent adopted by the invention has low toxicity, and in some embodiments, the compound diluent can be recycled in a simple manner, for example, the extracted compound diluent can be re-extracted by distillation, filtration and the like, so as to be further recycled. And the composite diluent has small environmental pollution and is suitable for the actual industrial production process.

The invention will be further illustrated by the following examples, but is not to be construed as being limited thereto. Unless otherwise specified, all reagents used in the invention are analytically pure.

The mechanical property test of the invention is carried out according to GB/T1040.3-2006 and ASTM D3763-10 standard.

The air permeability test of the invention is carried out according to the GB/T458-2008 standard.

The porosity of the invention is tested by a liquid absorption method. The method comprises the steps of selecting absolute ethyl alcohol as absorption liquid, weighing the mass of a dry film, completely soaking a diaphragm in the absolute ethyl alcohol for a certain time, then quickly taking out the diaphragm, slightly wiping off the absolute ethyl alcohol on the surface of the diaphragm by using filter paper, weighing the mass of a wet film, and calculating to obtain the porosity of the diaphragm.

The film pore structure of the film of the invention is observed by a scanning electron microscope.

Example 1

Polypropylene (number average molecular weight 50,000Da, polydispersity coefficient 6) is uniformly mixed with composite diluents of cetyl alcohol and benzophenone to form a premix, wherein the mass percent of the polypropylene is 35%, the mass percent of the cetyl alcohol is 38%, and the mass percent of the benzophenone is 27%. Adding the premix into a screw extruder, and melting and mixing uniformly to form a membrane making solution, wherein the melting temperature is 190 ℃. And (3) molding the membrane-making solution by an extruder, and then injecting the molded membrane-making solution into cooling water for solidification to obtain a primary membrane, wherein the cooling temperature is 25 ℃. The obtained primary membrane is stretched transversely and longitudinally, and then immersed in ethanol for extraction to remove hexadecanol and benzophenone. And carrying out heat treatment on the extracted film in water at 90 ℃ for 60min to obtain the polypropylene microporous film.

FIG. 2 is a scanning electron micrograph of the polypropylene microporous membrane of example 1. As shown in figure 2, the polypropylene microporous membrane has a through bicontinuous membrane pore structure and uniform pore size distribution. The system has a liquid-liquid phase separation phenomenon through microscopic observation, and the liquid-liquid phase separation zone corresponds to the maximum polymer mass concentration of 60 wt%. The microporous membrane was subjected to mechanical property test, air permeability test and porosity test, respectively, and the results are shown in table 1.

Example 2

A polypropylene microporous membrane was prepared according to the method of example 1, except that the composite diluent was cetyl alcohol and diphenyl carbonate, wherein the mass percentage of polypropylene was 35%, the mass percentage of cetyl alcohol was 38%, and the mass percentage of diphenyl carbonate was 27%. The system has a liquid-liquid phase separation phenomenon, the microporous membrane is respectively subjected to a mechanical property test, an air permeability test and a porosity test, and the results and the maximum polymer mass concentration corresponding to a liquid-liquid phase separation zone are shown in table 1.

Example 3

A polypropylene microporous membrane was prepared according to the method of example 1, except that the composite diluent was octadecanol and diphenyl carbonate, wherein the polypropylene was 40 mass%, the hexadecanol was 35 mass%, and the diphenyl carbonate was 25 mass%. The system has a liquid-liquid phase separation phenomenon, the microporous membrane is respectively subjected to a mechanical property test, an air permeability test and a porosity test, and the results and the maximum polymer mass concentration corresponding to a liquid-liquid phase separation zone are shown in table 1.

Example 4

A polypropylene microporous membrane was prepared according to the method of example 1, except that the composite diluent was tetradecanol and dimethylsulfone, in which the mass percent of polypropylene was 50%, the mass percent of tetradecanol was 20%, and the mass percent of dimethylsulfone was 30%. The system has a liquid-liquid phase separation phenomenon, the microporous membrane is respectively subjected to a mechanical property test, an air permeability test and a porosity test, and the results and the maximum polymer mass concentration corresponding to a liquid-liquid phase separation zone are shown in table 1.

Comparative example 1

A polypropylene microporous membrane was prepared in the same manner as in example 1, except that the diluent was cetyl alcohol, wherein the polypropylene was 35% by mass and the cetyl alcohol was 65% by mass. No liquid-liquid separation phenomenon is observed in the system, and the polypropylene crystallization is obvious. The microporous membrane is subjected to mechanical property test, air permeability test and porosity test, and the results and the maximum polymer mass concentration corresponding to the liquid-liquid phase separation zone are shown in table 1.

Comparative example 2

A polypropylene microporous membrane was prepared according to the method of example 1, except that the diluent was diphenyl ether, in which the mass percentage of polypropylene was 35% and the mass percentage of diphenyl ether was 65%. No liquid-liquid separation phenomenon is observed in the system, and the polypropylene crystallization is obvious. The microporous membrane is subjected to mechanical property test, air permeability test and porosity test, and the results and the maximum polymer mass concentration corresponding to the liquid-liquid phase separation zone are shown in table 1.

Comparative example 3

A polypropylene microporous membrane was prepared in the same manner as in example 1, except that the diluents were cetyl alcohol and diphenyl carbonate, wherein the polypropylene was 10% by mass and the cetyl alcohol was 40% by mass and the diphenyl carbonate was 50% by mass. No liquid-liquid separation phenomenon is observed in the system, and the polypropylene crystallization is obvious. The microporous membrane is subjected to mechanical property test, air permeability test and porosity test, and the results and the maximum polymer mass concentration corresponding to the liquid-liquid phase separation zone are shown in table 1.

Comparative example 4

A polypropylene microporous membrane was prepared in the same manner as in example 1, except that the diluents were cetyl alcohol and diphenyl carbonate, wherein the mass percentage of polypropylene was 35%, and the mass percentage of cetyl alcohol was 10% and the mass percentage of diphenyl carbonate was 55%. No liquid-liquid separation phenomenon is observed in the system, and the polypropylene crystallization is obvious. The microporous membrane is subjected to mechanical property test, air permeability test and porosity test, and the results and the maximum polymer mass concentration corresponding to the liquid-liquid phase separation zone are shown in table 1.

TABLE 1

As can be seen from table 1 above, by using the composite diluent system, compared with the diluent of a single component, the maximum mass percentage concentration of the liquid-liquid phase separation region can reach more than 50%, and the prepared polypropylene microporous membrane has excellent air permeability and mechanical strength, and is suitable for being used as a lithium battery diaphragm material. And a compound diluent system is not adopted, or the content and the proportion of the compound diluent are not in a specific range, so that the liquid-liquid phase separation phenomenon of the system cannot occur, the polypropylene crystallization is obvious, and the performance is influenced to a certain extent.

In conclusion, the invention provides a novel polypropylene microporous membrane and a preparation method thereof, the method adopts specific composite diluent to be compounded with polypropylene to obtain a polypropylene/composite diluent system with a wide liquid-liquid phase separation zone, so that the system can still carry out liquid-liquid phase separation when the concentration of a polymer is higher in the phase separation process, and the prepared polypropylene microporous membrane has excellent air permeability and mechanical strength and is suitable for being used as a lithium battery diaphragm material; in addition, the method has the advantages of short preparation period, simple and convenient process, low cost, environment-friendly raw materials and good industrial application prospect.

It should be noted by those skilled in the art that the described embodiments of the present invention are merely exemplary and that various other substitutions, alterations, and modifications may be made within the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but is only limited by the claims.