Increasing ionic conductivity and mechanical strength of a plastic electrolyte by inclusion of a polymer

In this contribution we present a soft matter solid electrolyte which was obtained by inclusion of a polymer (polyacrylonitrile, PAN) in LiClO₄/LiTFSI–succinonitrile (SN), a semi-solid organic plastic electrolyte. Addition of the polymer resulted in considerable enhancement in ionic conductivity as well as mechanical strength of LiX–SN (X = ClO₄, TFSI) plastic electrolyte. Ionic conductivity of 92.5%-[1 M LiClO₄–SN]:7.5%-PAN (PAN amount as per SN weight) composite at 25 °C recorded a remarkably high value of 7 × 10⁻³ Ω⁻¹ cm⁻¹, higher by few tens of order in magnitude compared to 1 M LiClO₄–SN. Composite conductivity at sub-ambient temperature is also quite high. At −20 °C, the ionic conductivity of (100 − x)%-[1 M LiClO₄–SN]:x%-PAN composites are in the range 3 × 10⁻⁵–4.5 × 10⁻⁴ Ω⁻¹ cm⁻¹, approximately one to two orders of magnitude higher with respect to 1 M LiClO₄–SN electrolyte conductivity. Addition of PAN resulted in an increase of the Young's modulus (Y) from Y → 0 for LiClO₄–SN to a maximum of 0.4 MPa for the composites. Microstructural studies based on X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy suggest that enhancement in composite ionic conductivity is a combined effect of decrease in crystallinity and enhanced trans conformer concentration