In the present work, promising proton conducting solid polymer blend electrolytes (SPBEs) composed of chitosan (CS) and methylcellulose (MC) were prepared for electrochemical double-layer capacitor (EDLC) application with a high specific capacitance and energy density. The change in intensity and the broad nature of the XRD pattern of doped samples compared to pure CS:MC system evidencedthe amorphous character of the electrolyte samples. The morphology of the samples in FESEM images supported the amorphous behavior of the solid electrolyte films. The results of impedance and Bode plotindicate that the bulk resistance decreasedwith increasing salt concentration. The highest DC conductivity was found to be 2.81 × 10-3 S/cm. The electrical equivalent circuit (EEC) model was conducted for selected samples to explain the complete picture of the electrical properties.The performance of EDLC cells was examined at room temperature by electrochemical techniques, such as impedance spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry (CV) and constant current charge-discharge techniques. It was found that the studied samples exhibit a very good performance as electrolyte for EDLC applications. Ions were found to be the dominant charge carriers in the polymer electrolyte. The ion transference number (tion) was found to be 0.84 while 0.16 for electron transference number (tel). Through investigation of linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), the CS:MC:NH4SCN system was found to be electrochemically stable up to 1.8 V. The CV plot revealed no redox peak, indicating the occurrence of charge double-layer at the surface of activated carbon electrodes. Specific capacitance (Cspe) for the fabricated EDLC was calculated using CV plot and charge-discharge analyses. It was found to be 66.3 F g-1 and 69.9 F g-1 (at thefirst cycle), respectively. Equivalent series resistance (Resr) of the EDLC was also identified, ranging from 50.0 to 150.0 Ω. Finally, energy density (Ed) was stabilized to anaverage of 8.63 Wh kg-1 from the 10th cycle to the 100th cycle. The first cycle obtained power density (Pd) of 1666.6 W kg-1 and then itdropped to 747.0 W kg-1 at the 50th cycle and continued to drop to 555.5 W kg-1 as the EDLC completed 100 cycles.
The present work proposed a novel approach for transferring high-risk heavy metals tometal complexes via green chemistry remediation. The method of remediation of heavy metals developed in the present work is a great challenge for global environmental sciences and engineering because it is a totally environmentally friendly procedure in which black tea extract solution is used. The FTIR study indicates that black tea contains enough functional groups (OH and NH), polyphenols and conjugated double bonds. The synthesis of copper complex was confirmed by the UV-vis, XRD and FTIR spectroscopic studies. The XRD and FTIR analysis reveals the formation of complexation between Cu metal complexes and Poly (Vinyl Alcohol) (PVA) host matrix. The study of optical parameters indicates that PVA-based hybrids exhibit a small optical band gap, which is close to inorganic-based materials. It was noted that the absorption edge shifted to lower photon energy. When Cu metal complexes were added to PVA polymer, the refractive index was significantly tuned. The band gap shifts from 6.2 eV to 1.4 eV for PVA incorporated with 45 mL of Cu metal complexes. The nature of the electronic transition in hybrid materials was examined based on the Taucs model, while a close inspection of the optical dielectric loss was also performed in order to estimate the optical band gap. The obtained band gaps of the present work reveal that polymer hybrids with sufficient film-forming capability could be useful to overcome the drawbacks associated with conjugated polymers. Based on the XRD results and band gap values, the structure-property relationships were discussed in detail.
Solid polymer blend electrolyte membranes (SPBEM) composed of chitosan and dextran with the incorporation of various amounts of lithium perchlorate (LiClO4) were synthesized. The complexation of the polymer blend electrolytes with the salt was examined using FTIR spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The morphology of the SPBEs was also investigated using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The ion transport behavior of the membrane films was measured using impedance spectroscopy. The membrane with highest LiClO4 content was found to exhibit the highest conductivity of 5.16 × 10-3 S/cm. Ionic (ti) and electronic (te) transference numbers for the highest conducting electrolyte were found to be 0.98 and 0.02, respectively. Electrochemical stability was estimated from linear sweep voltammetry and found to be up to ~2.3V for the Li+ ion conducting electrolyte. The only existence of electrical double charging at the surface of electrodes was evidenced from the absence of peaks in cyclic voltammetry (CV) plot. The discharge slope was observed to be almost linear, confirming the capacitive behavior of the EDLC. The performance of synthesized EDLC was studied using CV and charge-discharge techniques. The highest specific capacitance was achieved to be 8.7 F·g-1 at 20th cycle. The efficiency (η) was observed to be at 92.8% and remained constant at 92.0% up to 100 cycles. The EDLC was considered to have a reasonable electrode-electrolyte contact, in which η exceeds 90.0%. It was determined that equivalent series resistance (Resr) is quite low and varies from 150 to 180 Ω over the 100 cycles. Energy density (Ed) was found to be 1.21 Wh·kg-1 at the 1st cycle and then remained stable at 0.86 Wh·kg-1 up to 100 cycles. The interesting observation is that the value of Pd increases back to 685 W·kg-1 up to 80 cycles.
Plasticized magnesium ion conducting polymer blend electrolytes based on chitosan (CS): polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) was synthesized with a casting technique. The source of ions is magnesium triflate Mg(CF3SO3)2, and glycerol was used as a plasticizer. The electrical and electrochemical characteristics were examined. The outcome from X-ray diffraction (XRD) examination illustrates that the electrolyte with highest conductivity exhibits the minimum degree of crystallinity. The study of the dielectric relaxation has shown that the peak appearance obeys the non-Debye type of relaxation process. An enhancement in conductivity of ions of the electrolyte system was achieved by insertion of glycerol. The total conductivity is essentially ascribed to ions instead of electrons. The maximum DC ionic conductivity was measured to be 1.016 × 10-5 S cm-1 when 42 wt.% of plasticizer was added. Potential stability of the highest conducting electrolyte was found to be 2.4 V. The cyclic voltammetry (CV) response shows the behavior of the capacitor is non-Faradaic where no redox peaks appear. The shape of the CV response and EDLC specific capacitance are influenced by the scan rate. The specific capacitance values were 7.41 F/g and 32.69 F/g at 100 mV/s and 10 mV/s, respectively. Finally, the electrolyte with maximum conductivity value is obtained and used as electrodes separator in the electrochemical double-layer capacitor (EDLC) applications. The role of lattice energy of magnesium salts in energy storage performance is discussed in detail.
In the current paper, ion transport parameters in poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) based solid polymer electrolyte were examined using Trukhan model successfully. The desired amount of lithium trifluoromethanesulfonate (LiCF3SO3) was dissolved in PVA host polymer to synthesis of solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs). Ion transport parameters such as mobility (μ), diffusion coefficient (D), and charge carrier number density (n) are investigated in detail using impedance spectroscopy. The data results from impedance plots illustrated a decrement of bulk resistance with an increase in temperature. Using electrical equivalent circuits (EEC), electrical impedance plots (ZivsZr) are fitted at various temperatures. The results of impedance study demonstrated that the resistivity of the sample decreases with increasing temperature. The decrease of resistance or impedance with increasing temperature distinguished from Bode plots. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss values increased with an increase in temperature. The loss tangent peaks shifted to higher frequency region and the intensity increased with an increase in temperature. In this contribution, ion transport as a complicated subject in polymer physics is studied. The conductivity versus reciprocal of temperature was found to obey Arrhenius behavior type. The ion transport mechanism is discussed from the tanδ spectra. The ion transport parameters at ambient temperature are found to be 9 × 10-8 cm2/s, 0.8 × 1017 cm-3, and 3 × 10-6 cm2/Vs for D, n, andμ respectively. All these parameters have shown increasing as temperature increased. The electric modulus parameters are studied in an attempt to understand the relaxation dynamics and to clarify the relaxation process and ion dynamics relationship.
There is a huge request for the development of low dielectric constant polymeric materials for microelectronic applications. In thisstudy, polymer blends based on PVA:POZ with low dielectric constant has been fabricated. The results of XRD indicate that crystalline domain is enhanced at higher POZ concentration. Brilliant phases between spherulitesare attributed to the enhanced crystalline domains at high POZ content. White portions are appeared in SEM images on the surface of PVA:POZ blends. From EDX analysis, these leaked portions are referred to the POZ material. The number and sizes of the white portions were also found to increase with increasing the POZ content. Using electrical equivalent circuits (EEC), electrical impedance plots (Z″ vs Z') are fitted for all the samples. The results of impedance study illustrated that the resistivity of the samples increases with increasing POZ concentration. From dielectric measurements, dielectric constant was found to decrease with the introduction of more POZ into the PVA polymer. It is found to be about 1.68 at 40 wt.% POZ. Insulating materials with low dielectric constant (ε'
Poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA)-based solid polymer electrolytes doped with ammonium thiocyanate (NH4SCN) and glycerol were fabricated using a solution casting method. Lithium-based energy storage devices are not environmentally friendly materials, and they are toxic. Thus, proton-conducting materials were used in this work as they are harmless and are smaller than lithium. The interaction between PVA and the electrolyte elements was shown by FTIR analysis. The highest conductivity of 1.82 × 10-5 S cm-1 was obtained by the highest-conducting plasticized system (PSP_2) at room temperature. The mobility, diffusion coefficient, and number density of anions and cations were found to increase with increasing glycerol. FESEM was used to investigate the influence of glycerol on film morphology. TNM showed that the cations and anions were the main charge carriers. LSV showed that the electrochemical stability window of the PSP_2 system was 1.99 V. The PSP_2 system was applied in the preparation of an electrical double layer capacitor device. The shape of the cyclic voltammetry (CV) curve was nearly rectangular with no Faradaic peaks. From the galvanostatic charge-discharge analysis, the power density, energy density, and specific capacitance values were nearly constant beyond the first cycle at 318.73 W/Kg, 2.06 Wh/Kg, and 18.30 F g-1, respectively, for 450 cycles.
Polymer electrolytes and composites have prevailed in the high performance and mobile marketplace during recent years. Polymer-based solid electrolytes possess the benefits of low flammability, excellent flexibility, good thermal stability, as well as higher safety. Several researchers have paid attention to the optical properties of polymer electrolytes and their composites. In the present review paper, first, the characteristics, fundamentals, advantages and principles of various types of polymer electrolytes were discussed. Afterward, the characteristics and performance of various polymer hosts on the basis of specific essential and newly published works were described. New developments in various approaches to investigate the optical properties of polymer electrolytes were emphasized. The last part of the review devoted to the optical band gap study using two methods: Tauc's model and optical dielectric loss parameter. Based on recently published literature sufficient quantum mechanical backgrounds were provided to support the applicability of the optical dielectric loss parameter for the band gap study. In this review paper, it was demonstrated that both Tauc's model and optical dielectric loss should be studied to specify the type of electron transition and estimate the optical band gap accurately. Other parameters such as absorption coefficient, refractive index and optical dielectric constant were also explored.
In this review paper, we present a comprehensive summary of the different organic solar cell (OSC) families. Pure and doped conjugated polymers are described. The band structure, electronic properties, and charge separation process in conjugated polymers are briefly described. Various techniques for the preparation of conjugated polymers are presented in detail. The applications of conductive polymers for organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), organic field effect transistors (OFETs), and organic photovoltaics (OPVs) are explained thoroughly. The architecture of organic polymer solar cells including single layer, bilayer planar heterojunction, and bulk heterojunction (BHJ) are described. Moreover, designing conjugated polymers for photovoltaic applications and optimizations of highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO)-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels are discussed. Principles of bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells are addressed. Finally, strategies for band gap tuning and characteristics of solar cell are presented. In this article, several processing parameters such as the choice of solvent(s) for spin casting film, thermal and solvent annealing, solvent additive, and blend composition that affect the nano-morphology of the photoactive layer are reviewed.
The challenge in front of EDLC device is their low energy density compared to their battery counter parts. In the current study, a green plasticized nanocomposite sodium ion conducting polymer blend electrolytes (PNSPBE) was developed by incorporating plasticized Chitosan (CS) blended with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), doped with NaBr salt with various concentration of CaTiO3 nanoparticles. The most optimized PNSPBE film was subsequently utilized in an EDLC device to evaluate its effectiveness both as an electrolyte and a separator. Structural and morphological changes were assessed using XRD and SEM techniques. The PNSPBE film demonstrated a peak ionic conductivity of 9.76×10-5 S/cm, as determined through EIS analysis. The dielectric and AC studies provided further confirmation of structural modifications within the sample. Both TNM and LSV analyses affirmed the suitability of the prepared electrolyte for energy device applications, evidenced by its adequate ion transference number and an electrochemical potential window of 2.86 V. Electrochemical properties were assessed via CV and GCD techniques, confirming non-Faradaic ion storage, indicated by the rectangular CV pattern at low scan rates. The parameters associated with the designed EDLC device including specific capacitance, ESR, power density (1950 W/kg) and energy density (12.3 Wh/kg) were determined over 1000 cycles.
Manganese ferrite (MnFe2O4) magnetic nanoparticles were successfully prepared by a sol-gel self-combustion technique using iron nitrate and manganese nitrate, followed by calcination at 150 °C for 24 h. Calcined sample was systematically characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and vibrational sample magnetometry (VSM) in order to identify the crystalline phase, functional group, morphology, particle size, shape and magnetic behavior. It was observed that the resultant spinal ferrites obtained at low temperature exhibit single phase, nanoparticle size and good magnetic behavior. The study results have revealed the existence of a potent dose dependent cytotoxic effect of MnFe2O4 nanoparticles against 4T1 cell lines at varying concentrations with IC50 values of 210, 198 and 171 μg/mL after 24 h, 48 h and 72 h of incubation, respectively. Cells exposed to higher concentrations of nanoparticles showed a progressive increase of apoptotic and necrotic activity. Below 125 μg/mL concentration the nanoparticles were biocompatible with 4T1 cells.
In this report, a facile solution casting technique was used to fabricate polymer blend electrolytes of chitosan (CS):poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO):NH4SCN with high electrochemical stability (2.43V). Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used to investigate the polymer electrolyte formation. For the electrochemical property analysis, cyclic voltammetry (CV), linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques were carried out. Referring to the FTIR spectra, a complex formation between the added salt and CS:PEO was deduced by considering the decreasing and shifting of FTIR bands intensity in terms of functional groups. The CS:PEO:NH4SCN electrolyte was found to be electrochemically stable as the applied voltage linearly swept up to 2.43V. The cyclic voltammogram has presented a wide potential window without showing any sign of redox peaks on the electrode surface. The proved mechanisms of charge storage in these fabricated systems were found to be double layer charging. The EIS analysis showed the existence of bulk resistance, wherein the semicircle diameter decreased with increasing salt concentration. The calculated maximum DC conductivity value was observed to be 2.11 × 10-4 S/cm for CS:PEO incorporated with 40 wt% of NH4SCN salt. The charged species in CS:PEO:NH4SCN electrolytes were considered to be predominantly ionic in nature. This was verified from transference number analysis (TNM), in which ion and electron transference numbers were found to be tion = 0.954 and tel = 0.045, respectively. The results obtained for both ion transference number and DC conductivity implied the possibility of fabricating electrolytes for electrochemical double layer capacitor (EDLC) device application. The specific capacitance of the fabricated EDLC was obtained from the area under the curve of the CV plot.
In the present study black tea extract (BTE) solution which is familiar for drinking was used to prepare cerium metal-complexes (Ce(III)-complex). The prepared Ce(III)-complex was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The results indicate that BTE solution is a novel green coordination chemistry approach for the synthesis of metal complexes. The outcomes signify that coordination occurs between cerium cations and polyphenols. The synthesis of metal-complexes with superior absorption performance in the visible region is a challenge for optoelectronic device applications. The suspended Ce(III)-complex in distilled water was mixed with poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) polymer to fabricate PVA/ Ce(III)-complex composites with controlled optical properties. The PVA/Ce(III)-complexes composite films were characterized by FTIR, XRD, and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The XRD findings confirms the amorphous structure for the synthesized Ce(III)-complexes. The addition of Ce(III)-complex into the PVA host polymer led to the growth of polymer composites with controllable small optical band gaps. It is shown by the FTIR spectra of the composite films that the functional groups of the host PVA have a vigorous interaction with the Ce(III)-complex. The XRD deconvolution on PVA composites reveals the amorphous phase enlargement with increasing Ce(III)-complex concentration. It is indicated in the atomic force microscopy (AFM) that the surface roughness in the doped PVA films increases with the increase of the Ce(III)-complex. There is a decrease in absorption edge from 5.7 to 1.7 eV. It becomes possible to recognize the type of electron transition by studying both the Tauc's model and optical dielectric loss (ɛi) parameter.
In this work, plasticized polymer electrolyte films consisting of chitosan, ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) and glycerol for utilization in energy storage devices was presented. Various microscopic, spectroscopic and electrochemical techniques were used to characterize the concerned electrolyte and the electrical double-layer capacitor (EDLC) assembly. The nature of complexation between the polymer electrolyte components was examined via X-ray diffraction analysis. In the morphological study, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) was used to investigate the impact of glycerol as a plasticizer on the morphology of films. The polymer electrolyte (conducting membrane) was found to have a conductivity of 3.21 × 10-3 S/cm. It is indicated that the number density (n), mobility (μ) and diffusion coefficient (D) of ions are increased with the glycerol amount. The mechanism of charge storing was clarified, which implies a non-Faradaic process. The voltage window of the polymer electrolyte is 2.32 V. It was proved that the ion is responsible for charge-carrying via measuring the transference number (TNM). It was also determined that the internal resistance of the EDLC assembly lay between 39 and 50 Ω. The parameters associated with the EDLC assembly are of great importance and the specific capacitance (Cspe) was determined to be almost constant over 1 to 1000 cycles with an average of 124 F/g. Other decisive parameters were found: energy density (18 Wh/kg) and power density (2700 W/kg).
: In this work the influence of carbon nano-dots (CNDs) on absorption of ultra violet (UV) spectra in hybrid PVA based composites was studied. The FTIR results reveal the complex formation between PVA and CNDs. The shifting was observed in XRD spectrum of PVA:CNDs composites compared to pure PVA. The Debye-Scherrer formula was used to calculate the crystallite size of CNDs and crystalline phases of pure PVA and PVA:CNDs composites. The FESEM images emphasized the presence and dispersion of C-dots on the surface of the composite samples. From the images, a strong and clear absorption was noticed in the spectra. The strong absorption that appeared peaks at 280 nm and 430 nm can be ascribed to the n-π* and π-π* transitions, respectively. The absorption edge shifted to lower photon energy sides with increasing CNDs. The luminescence behavior of PVA:CNDs composite was confirmed using digital and photo luminescence (PL) measurements. The optical dielectric constant which is related to the density of states was studied and the optical band gap was characterized accurately using optical dielectric loss parameter. The Taucs model was used to determine the type of electronic transition in the samples.
This report shows a simple solution cast methodology to prepare plasticized polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/methylcellulose (MC)-ammonium iodide (NH4I) electrolyte at room temperature. The maximum conducting membrane has a conductivity of 3.21 × 10-3 S/cm. It is shown that the number density, mobility and diffusion coefficient of ions are enhanced by increasing the glycerol. A number of electric and electrochemical properties of the electrolyte-impedance, dielectric properties, transference numbers, potential window, energy density, specific capacitance (Cs) and power density-were determined. From the determined electric and electrochemical properties, it is shown that PVA: MC-NH4I proton conducting polymer electrolyte (PE) is adequate for utilization in energy storage device (ESD). The decrease of charge transfer resistance with increasing plasticizer was observed from Bode plot. The analysis of dielectric properties has indicated that the plasticizer is a novel approach to increase the number of charge carriers. The electron and ion transference numbers were found. From the linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) response, the breakdown voltage of the electrolyte is determined. From Galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) measurement, the calculated Cs values are found to drop with increasing the number of cycles. The increment of internal resistance is shown by equivalent series resistance (ESR) plot. The energy and power density were studied over 250 cycles that results to the value of 5.38-3.59 Wh/kg and 757.58-347.22 W/kg, respectively.
Chitosan (CS)-dextran (DN) biopolymer electrolytes doped with ammonium iodide (NH4I) and plasticized with glycerol (GL), then dispersed with Zn(II)-metal complex were fabricated for energy device application. The CS:DN:NH4I:Zn(II)-complex was plasticized with various amounts of GL and the impact of used metal complex and GL on the properties of the formed electrolyte were investigated.The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements have shown that the highest conductivity for the plasticized system was 3.44 × 10-4 S/cm. From the x-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements, the plasticized electrolyte with minimum degree of crystallinity has shown the maximum conductivity. The effect of (GL) plasticizer on the film morphology was studied using FESEM. It has been confirmed via transference number analysis (TNM) that the transport mechanism in the prepared electrolyte is predominantly ionic in nature with a high transference number of ion (ti)of 0.983. From a linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) study, the electrolyte was found to be electrochemically constant as the voltage sweeps linearly up to 1.25 V. The cyclic voltammetry (CV) curve covered most of the area of the current-potential plot with no redox peaks and the sweep rate was found to be affecting the capacitance. The electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC) has shown a great performance of specific capacitance (108.3 F/g), ESR(47.8 ohm), energy density (12.2 W/kg) and power density (1743.4 W/kg) for complete 100 cycles at a current density of 0.5 mA cm-2.
In this work, a pair of biopolymer materials has been used to prepare high ion-conducting electrolytes for energy storage application (ESA). The chitosan:methylcellulose (CS:MC) blend was selected as a host for the ammonium thiocyanate NH4SCN dopant salt. Three different concentrations of glycerol was successfully incorporated as a plasticizer into the CS-MC-NH4SCN electrolyte system. The structural, electrical, and ion transport properties were investigated. The highest conductivity of 2.29 × 10-4 S cm-1 is recorded for the electrolyte incorporated 42 wt.% of plasticizer. The complexation and interaction of polymer electrolyte components are studied using the FTIR spectra. The deconvolution (DVN) of FTIR peaks as a sensitive method was used to calculate ion transport parameters. The percentage of free ions is found to influence the transport parameters of number density (n), ionic mobility (µ), and diffusion coefficient (D). All electrolytes in this work obey the non-Debye behavior. The highest conductivity electrolyte exhibits the dominancy of ions, where the ionic transference number, tion value of (0.976) is near to infinity with a voltage of breakdown of 2.11 V. The fabricated electrochemical double-layer capacitor (EDLC) achieves the highest specific capacitance, Cs of 98.08 F/g at 10 mV/s by using the cyclic voltammetry (CV) technique.
The polymer electrolyte system of chitosan/dextran-NaTf with various glycerol concentrations is prepared in this study. The electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) study shows that the addition of glycerol increases the ionic conductivity of the electrolyte at room temperature. The highest conducting plasticized electrolyte shows the maximum DC ionic conductivity of 6.10 × 10-5 S/cm. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) is used to investigate the effect of plasticizer on film morphology. The interaction between the electrolyte components is confirmed from the existence of the O-H, C-H, carboxamide, and amine groups. The XRD study is used to determine the degree of crystallinity. The transport parameters of number density (n), ionic mobility (µ), and diffusion coefficient (D) of ions are determined using the percentage of free ions, due to the asymmetric vibration (υas(SO3)) and symmetric vibration (υs(SO3)) bands. The dielectric property and relaxation time are proved the non-Debye behavior of the electrolyte system. This behavior model is further verified by the existence of the incomplete semicircle arc from the Argand plot. Transference numbers of ion (tion) and electron (te) for the highest conducting plasticized electrolyte are identified to be 0.988 and 0.012, respectively, confirming that the ions are the dominant charge carriers. The tion value are used to further examine the contribution of ions in the values of the diffusion coefficient and mobility of ions. Linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) shows the potential window for the electrolyte is 2.55 V, indicating it to be a promising electrolyte for application in electrochemical energy storage devices.
In this research, a biopolymer-based electrolyte system involving methylcellulose (MC) as a host polymeric material and potassium iodide (KI) salt as the ionic source was prepared by solution cast technique. The electrolyte with the highest conductivity was used for device application of electrochemical double-layer capacitor (EDLC) with high specific capacitance. The electrical, structural, and electrochemical characteristics of the electrolyte systems were investigated using various techniques. According to electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), the bulk resistance (Rb) decreased from 3.3 × 105 to 8 × 102 Ω with the increase of salt concentration from 10 wt % to 40 wt % and the ionic conductivity was found to be 1.93 ×10-5 S/cm. The dielectric analysis further verified the conductivity trends. Low-frequency regions showed high dielectric constant, ε' and loss, ε″ values. The polymer-salt complexation between (MC) and (KI) was shown through a Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) studies. The analysis of transference number measurement (TNM) supported ions were predominantly responsible for the transport process in the MC-KI electrolyte. The highest conducting sample was observed to be electrochemically constant as the potential was swept linearly up to 1.8 V using linear sweep voltammetry (LSV). The cyclic voltammetry (CV) profile reveals the absence of a redox peak, indicating the presence of a charge double-layer between the surface of activated carbon electrodes and electrolytes. The maximum specific capacitance, Cs value was obtained as 118.4 F/g at the sweep rate of 10 mV/s.