Proton conducting polymer blend electrolytes based on MC: FTIR, ion transport and electrochemical studies

Abstract

In this work, the free-standing plasticized solid polymer electrolyte films were made utilizing methylcellulose (MC) and dextran (DN) doped with ammonium fluoride (NH4F) and plasticized with glycerol by a typical solution casting approach. Based on the characterizations, MC-DN-NH4F electrolyte has been shown to improve the structural, electrical, and electrochemical properties resulting from the dispersion of glycerol plasticizer. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurement for the highest inclusion of plasticizer revealed a conductivity of 2.25 × 10-3 S/cm. The electrical equivalent circuit (EEC) model has established the circuit elements for each electrolyte. The variation trend of dielectric constant and DC conductivity was matched and confirmed by the EIS data. The fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis displayed credible confirmation of polymers-ion-plasticizer interactions. The dielectric study is extra highlighted the conductivity behavior. The dielectric constant and loss (ε′ and ε″) quantities were reported to be high at low frequencies. On the other hand, the irregular shape of the imaginary part of modulus (M“) spectra denotes the non-Debye behaviors of relaxation. The ion transference number (tion) value for the maximum plasticized system is 0.944, where the ions are the primary components for the charge transfer process. Stability of the highest conducting sample is determined to be 1.6 V, using linear sweep voltammetry (LSV).

Keywords

• Polymer blends
• Ammonium salt
• FTIR study
• EIS and EEC modeling
• TNM and LSV