Organic/inorganic composite porous film and electrochemical device prepared thereby

1. An organic/inorganic composite porous film, which comprises:

(a) a porous substrate having pores; and

(b) an active layer formed by coating a surface of the substrate or a part of the pores in the substrate with a mixture of inorganic particles and a binder polymer, wherein the inorganic particles in the active layer are interconnected among themselves and are fixed by the binder polymer, and interstitial volumes among the inorganic particles form a pore structure,

wherein the porous substrate has a melting point of 200° C. or higher, and is at least one selected from the group consisting of polyethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate, polyester, polyacetal, polyamide, polycarbonate, polyimide, polyetherether ketone, polyether sulfone, polyphenylene oxide, polyphenylene sulfide and polyethylene naphthalene, and

wherein the binder polymer is at least one selected from the group consisting of polyvinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene, polyvinylidene fluoride-co-trichloroethylene, polymethylmethacrylate, polyacrylonitrile, polyvinylpyrrolidone, polyvinyl acetate, polyethylene-co-vinyl acetate, polyethylene oxide, cellulose acetate, cellulose acetate butyrate, cellulose acetate propionate, cyanoethylpullulan, cyanoethyl polyvinylalcohol, cyanoethylcellulose, cyanoethylsucrose, pullulan, carboxymethyl cellulose, acrylonitrile-styrene-butadiene copolymer and polyimide.

2. The organic/inorganic composite porous film according to claim 1 , wherein the inorganic particles are at least one selected from the group consisting of: (a) inorganic particles having a dielectric constant of 5 or more; and (b) inorganic particles having lithium ion conductivity.

3. The organic/inorganic composite porous film according to claim 2 , wherein the inorganic particles having a dielectric constant of 5 or more are BaTiO 3 , Pb(Zr,Ti)O 3 (PZT), Pb 1-x La x Zr 1-y Ti y O 3 (PLZT, 0<x<1, 0<y<1), Pb(Mg 3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 —PbTiO 3 (PMN-PT), hafnia (HfO 2 ), SrTiO 3 , SnO 2 , CeO 2 , MgO, NiO, CaO, ZnO, ZrO 2 , Y 2 O 3 , Al 2 O 3 or TiO 2 .

4. The organic/inorganic composite porous film according to claim 2 , wherein the inorganic particles having lithium ion conductivity are at least one selected from the group consisting of: lithium phosphate (Li 3 PO 4 ), lithium titanium phosphate [Li x Ti y (PO 4 ) 3 , 0<x<2, 0<y<3], lithium aluminum titanium phosphate [Li x Al y Ti z (PO 4 ) 3 , 0<x<2, 0<y<1, 0<z<3], (LiAlTiP) x O y glass [0<x<4, 0<y<13], lithium lanthanum titanate [Li x La y TiO 3 , 0<x<2, 0<y<3], lithium germanium thiophosphate [Li x Ge y P z S w , 0<x<4, 0<y<1, 0<z<1, 0<w<5], lithium nitrides [Li x N y , 0<x<4, 0<y<2], SiS 2 glass [Li x Si y S z , 0<x<3, 0<y<2, 0<z<4] and P 2 S 5 glass [Li x P y S z , 0<x<3, 0<y<3, 0<z<7].

5. The organic/inorganic composite porous film according to claim 1 , wherein the inorganic particles have a size of between 0.001 μm and 10 μm.

6. The organic/inorganic composite porous film according to claim 1 , wherein the inorganic particles are present in the mixture of inorganic particles with the binder polymer in an amount of 50-99 wt % based on 100 wt % of the mixture.

7. The organic/inorganic composite porous film according to claim 1 , wherein the binder polymer has a glass transition temperature (Tg) of between −200° C. and 200° C.

8. The organic/inorganic composite porous film according to claim 1 , wherein the binder polymer has a solubility parameter of between 15 and 45 MPa 1/2 .

9. The organic/inorganic composite porous film according to claim 1 , wherein the porous substrate has a pore size of between 0.01 and 50 μm and the organic/inorganic composite porous film has a pore size of between 0.01 and 10 μm.

10. The organic/inorganic composite porous film according to claim 1 , which has a porosity of between 5% and 95%.

11. The organic/inorganic composite porous film according to claim 1 , which has a thickness of between 1 and 100 μm.

12. An electrochemical device comprising:

(a) a cathode;

(b) an anode;

(c) an organic/inorganic composite porous film as defined in claim 1 , which is interposed between the cathode and anode; and

(d) an electrolyte.

13. The electrochemical device according to claim 12 , which is a lithium secondary battery.

14. The electrochemical device according to claim 12 , which further comprises a microporous separator.

15. The electrochemical device according to claim 14 , wherein the microporous separator is a polyolefin-based separator.

16. A method for manufacturing an organic/inorganic composite porous film as defined in claim 1 , which comprises the steps of:

(a) dissolving a binder polymer into a solvent to form a polymer solution;

(b) adding inorganic particles to the polymer solution obtained from step (a) and mixing them; and

(c) coating the mixture of inorganic particles with binder polymer obtained from step (b) on the surface of a substrate having pores or on a part of the pores in the substrate, followed by drying,

wherein the porous substrate has a melting point of 200° C. or higher, and is at least one selected from the group consisting of polyethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate, polyester, polyacetal, polyamide, polycarbonate, polyimide, polyetherether ketone, polyether sulfone, polyphenylene oxide, polyphenylene sulfide and polyethylene naphthalene, and

wherein the binder polymer is at least one selected from the group consisting of polyvinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene, polyvinylidene fluoride-co-trichloroethylene, polymethylmethacrylate, polyacrylonitrile, polyvinylpyrrolidone, polyvinyl acetate, polyethylene-co-vinyl acetate, polyethylene oxide, cellulose acetate, cellulose acetate butyrate, cellulose acetate propionate, cyanoethylpullulan, cyanoethyl polyvinylalcohol, cyanoethylcellulose, cyanoethylsucrose, pullulan, carboxymethyl cellulose, acrylonitrile-styrene-butadiene copolymer and polyimide.