Plasticizers and Salt Concentrations Effects on Polymer Gel Electrolytes Based on Poly (Methyl Methacrylate) for Electrochemical Applications

Abstract

This work describes the electrochemical properties of a type of PMMA-based gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs). The gel polymer electrolyte systems at a concentration of (20:80) % w/w were prepared from poly (methyl methacrylate), lithium perchlorate LiClO4 and single plasticizer propylene carbonate (PMMA-Li-PC) and a mixture of plasticizers made by propylene carbonate and ethylene carbonate in molar ratio 1:1, (PMMA-Li-PC-EC). Different salt concentrations (0.1 M, 0.5 M, 1 M, 2 M) were studied. The effect of different plasticizers (single and mixed) on the properties of gel polymer electrolytes were considered. The variation of conductivity versus salt concentration, thermal properties using DSC and TGA, anodic stability and FTIR spectroscopy were used in this study. The maximum ionic conductivity of σ = 0.031 S/cm were obtained for PMMA-Li-PC-EC with a salt concentration equal to 1 M. Ion-pairing phenomena and all ion associations were observed between lithium cations, plasticizers and host polymers through FTIR spectroscopy. The anodic stability of the PMMA-based gel polymer electrolytes was recorded up to 4 V. The glass temperatures of these electrolytes were estimated. We found they were dependent on the plasticization effect of plasticizers on the polymer chains and the increase of the salt concentration. Unexpectedly, it was determined that an unreacted PMMA monomer was present in the system, which appears to enhance ion conduction. The presence and possibly the addition of a monomer may be a technique for increasing ion conduction in other gel systems that warrants further study.

Development of Electrochromic Devices, Based on Polymeric Gel, for Energy Saving Applications

“…Raman spectroscopy has been widely used for studying many kinds of systems, such as: semiconductors, polymeric gel, phthalocyanine films, carbon-based systems (graphene and nanotubes), biopolymers, biomimetic biological systems and so on [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ].…”

Thermo-luminescent optical fibre sensor for Li-ion cell internal temperature monitoring

“…By far, the high molecular weight PMMAs showed the best behaviour and were able to survive in the electrolyte for more than 12 months. Some previous studies show the degradation of PMMA by carbonates [44,45] . However, these results concern PMMA with a low molecular weight of around 35,000.…”

Effect of the Combination of Gold Nanoparticles and Polyelectrolyte Layers on SERS Measurements

“…Raman spectroscopy, in the last decades, has shown to be a very useful tool for studying many different types of materials, such as thin films [ 1 ], gels [ 2 ], carbon-based materials [ 3 , 4 ], layered semiconductors [ 5 ], polymers [ 6 ], materials of biological [ 7 ] interest, and also for cultural heritage [ 8 ] issue. Sometimes, when Raman features are very low in intensity or are not detectable at all, it is possible to make the analyte contact a particular surface that is usually made up of a noble metal, which is able to enhance Raman signals by using an effect due to the interaction between the light and the plasmonic surface on the analyte [ 9 ].…”