Mechanical properties and ionic conductivity of biodegradable materials in solid polymer electrolyte

Abstract

In this paper, the mechanical properties of corn starch-sodium bisulfite (NaHSO3) solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) were investigated. The SPE film based on corn starch was doped with different weight percentages (wt%) of NaHSO3 and prepared using a solution casting method. The SPE was tested by using the Tensile Analyzer to determine the tensile strength and Young’s modulus value. The presence of 5 wt% of NaHSO3 content within the corn starch matrix increased the mechanical properties of SPE film from 0.26 MPa to 2.11 MPa of tensile strength while Young’s modulus enlarged from 1.6  10-2 up to 2.6  10-2 MPa. There was found that the tensile strength and Young’s modulus values tended to decrease with the addition of NaHSO3 more than 5 wt%. This study highlighted that adding NaHSO3 not only improved the ionic conductivity but also changed the mechanical properties of the film itself and it is believed that these properties had the potential and beneficial not only in advanced electronic applications but also in the packaging industry.