To improve the tensile strength and ionic conductivity of composite polymer films for lithium-ion batteries, molecular sieves of MCM-41 modified with sulfated zirconia (SO42-/ZrO2,SZ), denoted as MCM-41/SZ, were doped into a poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVdF) matrix to fabricate MCM-41/SZ composite polymer films, denoted as MCM-41/SZ films. Examination by transmission electron microscope (TEM) shows that modified molecular sieves have lower aggregation and a more porous structure. Tensile strength tests were carried out to investigate the mechanical performance of MCM-41/SZ films, and then the electrochemical performance of batteries with MCM-41/SZ films as separators was tested. The results show that the tensile strength (sigma(t)) of MCM-41/SZ film was up to 7.8 MPa; the ionic conductivity of MCM-41/SZ film was close to 10(-3) S cm(-1) at room temperature: and the coulombic efficiency of the assembled lithium-ion battery was 92% at the first cycle and reached as high as 99.99% after the 20th cycle. Meanwhile, the charge-discharge voltage plateau of the lithium-ion battery presented a stable state. Therefore. MCM-41/SZ films are a good choice as separators for lithium-ion batteries due to their high tensile strength and ionic conductivity. Crown Copyright (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.