Electrical, structural, and thermal studies of antimony trioxide-doped poly(acrylic acid)-based composite polymer electrolytes

Abstract

In this work, we investigate the electrical, structural, and thermal properties of composite polymer electrolytes (CPEs). Different mass fractions of antimony trioxide filler, Sb2O3, are added into poly(acrylic acid) (PAA)-based polymer electrolytes with N-lithiotrifluoromethane sulphonamide [LiN(SO2CF3)2] (LiTFSI) as doping salt. Characteristics such as alternating current (AC)–impedance spectroscopy, attenuated total reflectance–Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) are analyzed. The highest ionic conductivity of (2.15 ± 0.01) × 10−4 S cm−1 is achieved at room temperature with addition of 6 wt% of fillers. The ionic transportation is further proven in a transference number study under DC polarization, whereas ATR-FTIR is employed to explore the complexation between PAA, LiTFSI, and Sb2O3. TGA reveals the improved thermal stability of CPEs. The glass transition temperature (T g) is reduced upon addition of Sb2O3 as shown in DSC analysis.