Study of enhanced dissociation of aliphatic dicarboxylic acids with PVdF addition in polymer gel electrolytes

The ionic conductivity of non-aqueous polymer gel electrolytes containing weak aliphatic dicarboxylic acids has been found to depend upon the dissociation constant of the acid used and conductivity of (1–2)×10−3 S/cm has been obtained at 25◦C. The addition of polyvinylidenefluoride (PVdF) to the solution electrolytes containing different dicarboxylic acids results in an increase in conductivity, which depends upon the concentration of polymer and acid present in these electrolytes. The enhancement of conductivity with PVdF addition has been explained to be due to the dissociation of undissociated acid present in the electrolytes which results in an increase in free H+ ion concentration and has been studied by pH measurements. The variation of viscosity with acid and polymer concentration and temperature has also been studied and viscosity increases exponentially at high PVdF concentrations and plays a dominant role at high PVdF concentrations. C 2005 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.