Determination of electrochemical stability window of polyacrylonitrile based polymer system for different electrodes

Solid polymer electrolytes are considered to be very appealing candidates for numerous applications such as batteries, artificial muscles and super capacitors. For applications, the voltage limits between the oxidation and reduction are very important. The voltage limits are taken as the positions where oxidation and reduction occurs. Those two positions can be traced using a cyclic voltammogram. The solid polymer electrolyte under investigation comprised of polyacrylonitrile (PAN), ethylene carbonate (EC). propylene carbonate (PC) and lithium trifluoromethanesulfoinate (L i CF 3 SO 3 – L i TF). All the preparation steps were carried out in side an Argon filled glove box. Electrolyte film was sandwiched in a brass sample cell holder in between a Li electrode and one of an inert electrode made of stainless steel, nickel, platinum, copper and aluminium. Lithium was used as the reference and counter electrodes while the inert electrode was used as the working electrode. Cyclic voltammetry measurements were taken in the potential range, 2.0 V – 4.9 V vs L i . A good stability window was seen when the stainless steel electrodes were used. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/sljp.v9i0.2505 Sri Lanka Journal of Physics Vol.9 (2008) pp.1-6