Zinc oxide nanofiller-based composite polymer gel electrolyte for application in EDLCs

Abstract

A ZnO nanofiller-based polymer gel electrolyte was prepared using solution-cast technique by incorporating PVDF-HFP as the polymer, ethylene carbonate (EC)-propylene carbonate (PC) as plasticizers, tetraethylammonium tetrafluoroborate (TEABF4) as salt, and ZnO as nanofiller. A maximum ionic conductivity value 6.3 × 10−3 Scm−1 was obtained by adding 12 wt% of ZnO nanoparticles in complex [{PVDF-HFP (20 wt%) + {EC-PC (v/v)-TEABF4 (1.0 M)} (80 wt%)}]. From the temperature-dependent conductivity plot, the activation energy is found to be equal to Ea ~ 0.07 eV. The amorphous structure is confirmed by SEM and XRD analysis. Electrochemical potential window and ionic transference number were calculated and found to be equal to ~3.3 V and 0.84, respectively. Optimized NCPGE is utilized in the fabrication of the electrical double-layer capacitor (EDLC) cell using market parched activated charcoal as electrode material. The specific capacitance of the fabricated EDLC cell is found to be equal to 162.9 mFcm−1 and ~ 67.8 Fg−1 for the single-electrode system.