Summary: PEO based polymer electrolytes containing ammonium hexafluorophosphate (NH 4 PF 6 ) and hexafluorophosphoric acid (HPF 6 ), both with PF À 6 anion have been studied. The effect of the addition of propylene carbonate (PC) to PEO-NH 4 PF 6 and PEO-HPF 6 has been observed to increase in ionic conductivity which is attributed to an increase in free ion concentration due to the dissociation of ion aggregates present at higher acid/salt concentrations. The plasticized polymer electrolytes containing HPF 6 show relatively higher conductivity (s max ¼ 1.02 Â 10 À4 S/cm at 10 wt% HPF 6 ) as compared to electrolytes containing NH 4 PF 6 (s max ¼ 1.09 Â 10 À5 S/cm at 10 wt% NH 4 PF 6 ). Presence of free ions, ion aggregates and their dissociation with the addition of PC has been studied by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The change in amorphous phase with PC content was also studied by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). The variation of conductivity with temperature shows Vogel-Tammen-Fulcher (VTF) behavior, which is associated with the highly amorphous nature of electrolytes. 1 H Nuclear magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectra at different temperatures shows line narrowing and suggests the onset of long range ion diffusional motion. Change in surface morphology of polymer electrolytes with the addition of PC is also checked by Scanning Electron Microscopic (SEM) studies.
The effect of addition of propylene carbonate (PC) and nano-sized fumed silica on the ionic conductivity behaviour of proton conducting polymer electrolytes containing different concentrations of hexafluorophosphoric acid (HPF 6) in polyethylene oxide (PEO) has been studied. The addition of PC results in an increase in ionic conductivity, whereas the addition of nano-sized fumed silica improves mechanical strength of electrolytes along with a small increase in ionic conductivity. It was observed that the simultaneous addition of PC and fumed silica results in electrolytes with optimum value of ionic conductivity and other properties.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.