New Plasticized Polymer Solid Electrolyte Material for Zn/MnO₂ Cell

Abstract

Solid polymer electrolytes based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and plasticized with ethylene glycol (EG) and/or phosphoric acid (H3PO4) have been developed to increase their proton conductivities. This electrolyte material has been characterized using various experimental techniques such as X-ray diffraction, infrared Fourier transform spectrometry and electrochemical impedance spectrometry. An optimum ionic conductivity value of the plasticized polymer electrolyte film has been achieved to be of the order of 10 −3 Scm −1 at relative humidity equal to 100% for 45 wt.% EG and 5 wt.% H3PO4. The minimum activation energy of this ternary complex is found to be 9 kJmol −1 for optimum conductivity condition. Using this ternary PVA-EG(45 wt.%)-H3PO4(5 wt.%) complex film as electrolyte, an "all solid state" Zn/MnO2 cell was fabricated and its discharge characteristics profile has been studied. In fact, the specific capacity and energy exceeding 200 Ahkg −1 and 250 Whkg −1 , respectively, have been observed experimentally in this cell.