Ion Transport and Materials Characterization Studies on Hot-Press Cast Zn2+ Conducting Nano-Composite Polymer Electrolyte (NCPE) Films: [90 PEO: 10 Zn (CF3SO3)2] + xAl2o3

Investigations on ion-transport and materials properties of poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO) based Zn2+ conducting Nano-Composite Polymer Electrolyte (NCPE) membranes: [90 PEO: 10 Zn (CF3SO3)2] + xAl2O3, have been reported. NCPE films have been prepared by a completely dry hot-press cast technique using Solid Polymer Electrolyte (SPE) composition: [90 PEO: 10 Zn (CF3SO3)2] as I phase and Al2O3 nano-filler particles (< 50 nm) as II- Phase dispersoid. In an earlier study, SPE used here as I phase host has been identified as optimum room temperature conducting film exhibiting (srt) ~1.01 x 10-5 S/cm. As a consequence of fractional dispersal of nano-filler particles in SPE, additional srt enhancement of an order of magnitude was obtained. This has been referred as NCPE OCC film. Ion transport behavior in NCPE OCC has been characterized in terms of ionic conductivity (?), total ionic (tion)/cation (t+) transport numbers which have been measured using different ac/dc techniques. Temperature dependent conductivity study has also been carried out to understand the mechanism of ion transport and to compute activation energy (Ea) from ‘log s-1/T’ plot. Materials and thermal properties have been characterized with the help of SEM, XRD, FTIR and DSC / TGA techniques.