Investigations on magnesium ion conducting gellan gum-based biopolymer blend electrolytes for energy storage applications

Abstract

The economical and ecological polymer electrolytes are essential for energy storage devices. The key problem we are trying to resolve is how to improve ionic conductivity and safety in polymer electrolytes, which are essential for energy storage devices to operate effectively. We have prepared biopolymer blend electrolytes with different concentrations of magnesium chloride (MgCl2) by solution casting technique and the prepared electrolytes are investigated. Increase of amorphous nature of the polymer membranes is confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy used to define complex formation between salt and polymers. Thermal properties of the electrolytes are confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry technique. The higher ionic conductivity of 1.04  ×  10−5 S/cm has been achieved for 8 wt.% MgCl2 mixed gellan gum: polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) polymer blend at the room temperature. The present work highlights the preparation and characterization of gellan gum: PVA: MgCl2 polymer blend electrolytes with enhanced ionic conductivity and safety. The optimized polymer electrolyte is applied for energy storage devices.