Characteristics of EDLC device fabricated from plasticized chitosan:MgCl2 based polymer electrolyte

Abstract

Chitosan (CS) based polymer electrolytes are prepared via a simple method called solution casting where the ionic source in this work is magnesium chloride (MgCl2). The plasticization method is implemented using glycerol. Through XRD it appears that amorphous phase enrich with increasing glycerol concentration. The impedance study is carried out to estimate the DC conductivity of the plasticized samples. The highest conducting (1.03 × 10−3 S/cm) plasticized electrolyte is used as electrode separator for electrochemical double-layer capacitor (EDLC) application. Ionic transference number in this work is 0.97 where it concludes that the ion is the main charge carrier. No obvious changes in current are detected as the voltage sweeps from 0 to 1.83 V, meaning that CS:MgCl2: glycerol system is potentially steady up to 1.83 V. The outcome of cyclic voltammetry (CV) indicates that no redox reaction is observed and specific capacitance is influenced by scan rates. The crucial parameters of the EDLC, e.g., specific capacitance, internal resistance, energy density, and power density at the 1st cycle are 117 F/g, 183 Ω, 13.1 Wh/kg and 550 W/kg, respectively.

Keywords

• Chitosan polymer electrolyte
• Glycerol plasticizer
• MgCl2salt
• XRD study
• Electrochemical characteristics
• EDLC.