Single-ion-conducting nanocomposite polymer electrolytes based on PEG400 and anionic nanoparticles: Part 1. Synthesis, structure and properties

The synthesis and the properties of single-ion-conducting nanocomposite polymer electrolytes (nCPEs) are described. The nCPEs are obtained by doping polyethylene glycol 400 (PEG400) with different amounts of a fluorinated TiO2-based nanofiller (LiFT (R)) that is surface-functionalized with Li+ cations. Electrolytes with general formula [PEG400/(LiFT)(y)] and y = n(Ti)/eta(PEG) ranging from 0 to 26.4 are obtained. The materials are characterized by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), and Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy in both the medium (FT-MIR) and far infrared (FT-FIR). In the [PEG400/(LiFT)(y)] electrolytes the concentration of LiFT nanofiller strongly affects the thermal stability and transitions of PEG400. In addition, vibrational measurements allow us to reveal the interactions occurring between: (a) different PEG400 chains; (b) PEG400 and Li+ cations; and (c) PEG400 and LiFT nanoparticles (NPs). On LiFT nanofiller concentration, results show three compositional regions in [PEG400/(LiFT)(y)] electrolytes which are correlated to the presence of three different interaction environments between LiFT NPs and PEG400 chains. Copyright (C) 2013, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.