Utilisation of corn starch in production of ‘eco friendly’ polymer electrolytes for proton battery applications

Abstract

Proton conducting solid polymer electrolyte [SPE] based on Cornstarch [CS] and Polyvinylpyrrolidone [PVP] with ammonium acetate are prepared by solution casting technique. The structure and Functional group of the prepared biopolymer electrolytes are confirmed by X-Ray diffraction analysis and FTIR. Conductivity, dielectric of this proton conducting SPE can be ascertained by AC impedance techniques. Sample AA-60 shows higher conductivity of 1.09 × 10−6 S/cm at ambient temperature with 0.403 eV of activation energy. Higher conducting SPE follows the overlapping large polaron tunnelling (OLPT) conduction mechanism. From the transference number analysis, 60 wt% sample shows the maximum transference number (∼0.99). The diffusion coefficient (D) and mobility of the cation is higher than the anion. The recorded CV curve lies in an applied potential window from - 0.2 to 0.7 V. The fabricated proton battery has reached an open circuit voltage of 0.89 V and discharge time of 63 h.