Structural, electrical and electrochemical studies of sodium ion conducting blend polymer electrolytes

Abstract

In the present study sodium ion conducting polymer blend electrolytes has been prepared using poly (vinylidene fluoride – hexafluoro – propylene) (PVdF-HFP), poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), and sodium thiocyanate (NaSCN) salt by solution-cast technique. The highest ionic conductivity of the optimized blend polymer electrolyte system [PVdF(HFP)-PMMA (4:1)] (20 wt%)-[NaSCN (1 M)] (80 wt%) has been found to be 4.54 × 10−2 S cm−1 at room temperature. The temperature dependence conductivity plot shows the Arrhenius behaviour and its activation energy calculated from the plot were found to be 0.13 eV. The structural and morphological studies of polymer blend electrolyte were investigated by XRD, SEM and FTIR spectroscopy. Complex formation between polymer and salt has been confirmed by these studies. The thermal properties of optimized electrolyte system were examined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) techniques. The ionic transport number was calculated using d.c polarization techniques and was found to be 0.92, which shows that electrolyte system is predominantly ionic in nature. The electrochemical potential window of optimized polymer blend electrolyte was tested and observed to be ∼2.8 V.