Influence of inorganic nanofiller on the properties of poly(ethylene oxide)/poly(methyl acrylate) composite polymer electrolytes

Abstract

Abstract The effect of titanium dioxide (TiO2) on the thermal properties, morphology, intermolecular interactions, and dielectric response of poly(ethylene oxide)/poly(methyl acrylate) (PEO/PMA) polymer electrolytes was studied. These properties were elucidated based on the empirical point of view through systematic sample characterization using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarized optical microscopy (POM), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and impedance spectroscopy (IS). Without TiO2, lithium perchlorate preferably dissolves in the PEO phase rather than in the PMA phase. When TiO2 is added into PEO/PMA/salt systems, TiO2 shows weak interactions either with PEO or PMA phase. The addition of TiO2 changes the morphology of PEO/PMA systems with or without salt from a homogeneous mixture to a heterogeneous mixture displayed by the presence of two T gs and through the morphological study. The conductivity of both PEO/PMA with and without salt systems remains constant upon the addition of TiO2. Hence, the presented data here have shown that TiO2 provides only a minor effect on the properties of PEO/PMA with and without salt systems. Indirectly, it shows by adding TiO2 under this experimental study may not bring a significant contribution to the improvement of polymer electrolytes.