Journal of Material Sciences & Engineering

Conductivity, Structural and Thermal Studies on Electrospun PVA-PANILiClO 4-Sb2O3 Composite Nanofibers Polymer Electrolytes for Battery Applications

Abstract

Wan Ahmad Kamil Mahmood and Rahmat Gul

Nanocomposite polymer blend electrolytes composed of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) as a host polymer, Polyaniline (PANI) as an additive, Lithium Perchlorate (LiClO₄) as dopant salt were prepared for different concentrations of Antimony Trioxide (Sb₂O₃) as inorganic filler with the constant ratio of PVA and PANI polymers by using electrospinning technique and investigated. The complexations of the samples were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and FTIR spectroscopic techniques which indicate complexation between the polymers, salt and inorganic filler whereas micro surface structure of the composite electrolytes was analyzed using scanning electron microscope (SEM) studies which reveal the surface morphology of the prepared samples. Thermogravimetric analyses (TGA) shows enhancement in thermal stability of composite polymer electrolytes films upon incorporation of filler. Sample films of PVA-PANI-LiClO₄-Sb₂O₃ were subjected to AC impedance spectroscopic analysis for the measurement of conductivity at different temperature. The effect of temperature and filler concentration on the ionic conductivity values have been studied in the range 298-353K. It was found that the polymer electrolyte with 9 wt% of Sb₂O₃ exhibits the highest ionic conductivity value of 8.394 × 10^-5 S cm^-1 at ambient temperature. The temperature dependence of the conductivity of the composite polymer electrolyte films seems to obey the VTF relation.