Proton conducting polymer electrolytes based on PVdF-PVA with NH4NO3

Conducting polymer electrolyte films were prepared based on poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVdF) and poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) by using a solution casting technique. The optimized PVdF-PVA polymer blend ratio was doped with different concentrations of NH4NO3 and polymer blend electrolytes were prepared. The increase in amorphous nature of the polymer electrolytes was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and optical microscopic studies. The complex formation between the polymers and the salt was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. The ac impedance studies were performed to evaluate the ionic conductivity of the polymer electrolyte membranes in the range 303–333 K and the highest ionic conductivity was found to be 2.91×10-4 S/cm at ambient temperature for PVdF-PVA-NH4NO3 (80:20:25 MWt%) polymer electrolyte, with activation energy Ea=0.7 eV. The dielectric behavior of the electrolytes was also studied.