Fabrication and Characterization of Flexible Solid Polymers Electrolytes for Supercapacitor Application
Nacer Badi1,2,3, Azemtsop Manfo Theodore4, Saleh A Alghamdi1,2,3
1Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Tabuk, Tabuk 71491, Saudi Arabia.
Polymers
|September 23, 2022
Summary
This study developed flexible polymer electrolytes using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) with sodium thiocyanate (NaSCN). The optimized blend achieved high ionic conductivity and was used in a graphene oxide supercapacitor with excellent performance.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Electrochemistry
- Polymer Science
Background:
- Solid flexible polymer blend electrolytes (PBE) are crucial for advanced energy storage devices.
- Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) are common polymers for electrolyte development.
- Sodium thiocyanate (NaSCN) is investigated as a salt dopant to enhance ionic conductivity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To prepare and characterize solid flexible polymer blend electrolytes (PBE) based on PVA and PVP doped with NaSCN.
- To investigate the effect of NaSCN concentration on the structural, morphological, and ionic conductivity properties of the polymer blend.
- To fabricate and evaluate a supercapacitor device utilizing the optimized polymer electrolyte and graphene oxide (GO) electrodes.
Main Methods:
- Solution casting method for preparing PVA/PVP/NaSCN polymer blend films.
- Polarized Optical Microscopy (POM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) for material characterization.
- Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), Linear Sweep Voltammetry (LSV), and Transference Number Measurement (TNM) for electrochemical analysis.
- Fabrication and testing of a supercapacitor device using graphene oxide (GO) coated electrodes.
Main Results:
- The addition of NaSCN induced amorphous regions in the polymer matrix, confirmed by POM.
- FTIR spectra indicated complex formation between PVA, PVP, and NaSCN.
- The highest ionic conductivity of 8.1 × 10-5 S/cm was achieved for PVA:PVP (50:50 wt%) with 20 wt% NaSCN.
- The optimized electrolyte demonstrated electrochemical stability up to 1.5 V with 99% ionic charge transport.
- The supercapacitor device exhibited high coulombic efficiency (100%), specific capacitance (13.28 F/g via CV), and low ESR.
Conclusions:
- The optimized PVA:PVP (50:50 wt%) + 20 wt% NaSCN polymer blend electrolyte offers promising properties for energy storage applications.
- The fabricated supercapacitor device demonstrates excellent performance characteristics, including high capacitance and stability.
- The study highlights the potential of these flexible polymer electrolytes in developing efficient and durable solid-state energy storage systems.
