Effect of dangling side branching of polymer electrolyte membrane at the electrode interface on enhancement of ionic conductivity and capacity retention

Abstract

The present article is aimed at improvement of ionic conductivity of solid polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) via attachment of dangling polyethylene glycol methyl ether acrylate side branches to polyethylene glycol diacrylate network by reducing glass transition temperature (Tg) of the network. Moreover, excellent capacity retention of the PEM has been achieved owing to highly mobile side branches (i.e. lower Tg) at the PEM/electrodes interface, which probably prevents irreversible redox reaction at the solid electrolyte interface. Chemical/modifier doping is also found to be effective strategy to improve capacity retention via the modified PEM/electrode interface.