Characterization of polymer/liquid crystal composite based electrolyte membranes for sodium ion battery applications

Abstract A novel PEO/E8 liquid crystal based composite solid polymer electrolyte membranes complexed with NaIO 4 salt were prepared by the solution casting technique. The composite-salt complexations were examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, micro-Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) studies. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) studies confirmed the decrease of percentage of crystalline portion in the matrix of electrolyte membranes upon that addition of NaIO 4 . The EIS studies evidenced for the increase of ionic conductivity of the electrolytes upon increase of NaIO 4 concentration and in the present study, PEO/E8 electrolyte complexed with 10 wt% of NaIO 4 demonstrated higher room temperature ionic conductivity of 1.05 × 10 −7 S/cm.