Synthesis and Characterization of Hot-Pressed Solid Polymer Electrolytes

Synthesis and characterization of an ion conducting solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) membranes: (1-x) PEO: x KHCO₃, where x = 0 <; × <; 50 wt. (%), are reported. SPE membranes were casted using a recently developed hot-press technique. The composition: 70 PEO : 30 KHCO₃ with conductivity (σ) ~8.5 × 10^-7 S.cm^-1 was identified as highest conducting composition from the compositional dependent conductivity study and this has been referred to as the Optimum Conducting Composition (OCC). An enhancement in the room temperature conductivity of approximately two orders of magnitude has been achieved in OCC as compared to pure polymer host PEO. Material characterizations were done with the help of Scanning Electron Micrograph (SEM) and DSC techniques. The basic ionic transport parameters viz. ionic conductivity (σ), ionic mobility (μ) and mobile ion concentration (n) have been characterized using different experimental techniques.