Electrochemical and Ion Transport Studies of Li+ Ion-Conducting MC-Based Biopolymer Blend Electrolytes

Abstract

A facile methodology system for synthesizing solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) based on methylcellulose, dextran, lithium perchlorate (as ionic sources), and glycerol (such as a plasticizer) (MC:Dex:LiClO4:Glycerol) has been implemented. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and two imperative electrochemical techniques, including linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), were performed on the films to analyze their structural and electrical properties. The FTIR spectra verify the interactions between the electrolyte components. Following this, a further calculation was performed to determine free ions (FI) and contact ion pairs (CIP) from the deconvolution of the peak associated with the anion. It is verified that the electrolyte containing the highest amount of glycerol plasticizer (MDLG3) has shown a maximum conductivity of 1.45 × 10−3 S cm−1. Moreover, for other transport parameters, the mobility (μ), number density (n), and diffusion coefficient (D) of ions were enhanced effectively. The transference number measurement (TNM) of electrons (tel) was 0.024 and 0.976 corresponding to ions (tion). One of the prepared samples (MDLG3) had 3.0 V as the voltage stability of the electrolyte.