Structural and electrochemical properties of nanocomposite polymer electrolyte for electrochemical devices

This report describes the structural and electrochemical properties of the nanocomposite polymer electrolyte (70PEO:30AgI) incorporating SiO2 filler of different weight percentage (wt %) ranging between 1 and 10 wt %. Studies on inorganic filler in polymer matrix may be quite familiar, but the chosen polymer, the effect of concentration exhibiting the highest conductivity, and its use for capacitor studies are novel and are studied with the aid of impedance spectroscopy. The optimum composite composition (OCC) of 5 wt % loading, 95(70PEO:30AgI):5SiO2, exhibited the best performance of conductivity (σ ∼ 2.50 × 10–3 S/cm) and a low activation energy of 0.1 eV. The impedance, capacitive, and other structural behavior of the polymer electrolyte validated the proposed conceptual idea. The conductivity enhancement has been well-correlated with the change in structure and morphology of the polymer electrolyte, suggesting that the amorphous domain is found to be suitable for solid-state capacitor applications