Effect of plasticizer (PEG) on Novel (PEO+PVP) based polymer blend electrolyte films
Abstract
The effect of low molecular weight plasticizer on the properties of Na+ ion conducting PEO/PVP blended solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) membranes, 95[35PEO:35PVP:30NaF]: 5x, where x = PEG200, PEG400, PEG600 were reported. SPE films were prepared using solution cast technique. The solid polymer electrolyte film, (35PEO:35PVP:30NaF), also prepared and identified as the highest conducting composition at room temperature. Complexation of the prepared electrolytes was studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The optical behaviour of the SPE films was studied from ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy, and the optical parameters viz. absorption edge, direct energy bandgap and indirect energy band gap were determined. Frequency dependent conductivity (σac) values were obtained from complex impedance (cole-cole) plots. It was observed that the magnitude of conductivity increased with the decrease of molecular weight of the plasticizer at room temperature. The charge transport mechanism in this SPE is mainly due to ions which were confirmed by the transference number experiment. Using this electrolyte, cells were fabricated and their discharge profiles were studied under constant load. Several cell parameters associated with the cells were evaluated.
