Ionic conductivity of a PMMA based gel polymer electrolyte and its performance in solid state electrochemical cells

Gel polymer electrolytes are known to be very suitable for many electrochemical devices. They Gel polymer electrolytes are known to be very suitable for many electrochemical devices. They have been extensively studied for lithium based electrochemical cells. But, due to several drawbacks of lithium based cells such as safety issues, handling problems and toxicity, it is the time to develop non Li based cells. In this study, ionic conductivity of a gel polymer electrolyte (GPE) based on polymethylmethacrylate, ethylene carbonate, propylene carbonate and tetrapropylammonium iodide and its performance in an Mg / C: I₂ cell was investigated. GPE was prepared by varying salt concentration using hot pressed method and the composition, 20 PMMA / 30 EC / 30 PC / 40 Pr₄N⁺I showed the highest conductivity of 5.02 x 10^-3 Scm^-1 at 28^°C. The cell in the form Mg / GPE / C+I₂ showed an average open circuit voltage of 1.9 V. The average short circuit current was 3.3 mA. It was possible to observe a good stability by the self discharge characteristics of the cell.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/sljp.v15i0.6638

Sri Lankan Journal of Physics, Vol. 15 (2014) 11-17