Characterization of proton conducting blend polymer electrolyte using PVA-PAN doped with NH4SCN

Abstract

Polymer electrolytes with proton conductivity based on blend polymer using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and poly acrylo nitrile (PAN) doped with ammonium thiocyanate have been prepared by solution casting method using DMF as solvent. The complex formation between the blend polymer and the salt has been confirmed by FTIR Spectroscopy. The amorphous nature of the blend polymer electrolytes have been confirmed by XRD analysis. The highest conductivity at 303 K has been found to be 3.25 × 10−3 S cm−1 for 20 mol % NH4SCN doped 92.5PVA:7.5PAN system. The increase in conductivity of the doped blend polymer electrolytes with increasing temperature suggests the Arrhenius type thermally activated process. The activation energy is found to be low (0.066 eV) for the highest conductivity sample.