Structural and Conductivity Studies of PAN-based Al2O3 Nanocomposite Gel Polymer Electrolytes

An attempt has been focused to develop a new aluminum ion conducting non aqueous polymer electrolyte for high power rechargeable batteries having applications in rapidly growing markets, such as laptops, handy tele communication equipments, electric vehicles, camcorders, etc. These features have given a thrust to develop a suitable nano composite GPE based on PAN as polymer host and sodium fluoride (NaF) as dopant salt and Al2O3 as nano filler in the form of thin films through solution casting technique, consuming N,N-dimethyl formamide (DMF) as a common solvent. Nano composite gel polymer electrolyte films have been prepared by solution casting technique. The XRD pattern of 70PAN-30NaF with addition of wt% Al2O3 ceramic filler indicated reducing degree of crystallinity. Using IR studies revealed that the complexation of the polymer poly (acrylonitrle) with NaF. The conductivity of the GPEs was studied with enhancement of nano fillers. The sample containing 3 wt% of Al2O3 exhibited the highest conductivity of 4.82x10-3S cm-1 at room temperature (303K) and 5.96x10-3S cm-1 at 378K. With the help of Wagner’s polarization technique electronic (te) and ionic (ti) values can be determined.To determine profiles of discharge characteristics (70PAN-30NaF-3wt% Al2O3) NCGPE solid-state electrochemical cell was fabricated and various cell profiles were evaluated.