Using crystallography to understand polymer electrolytes

Crystallography provides a unique insight into the structural properties of polymer electrolytes. Knowledge of the crystal structures helps in the understanding of the structural chemistry of such electrolytes and facilitates the design of electrolytes with a higher conductivity for applications in new devices such as all-solid-state batteries. In the present paper we present a detailed survey of the structural properties of all the crystalline phases of poly(ethylene oxide)-based polymer electrolytes along with various approaches to structure elucidation from powder diffraction data. The inter-relationship between the crystal structure and conductivity of the polymer electrolytes is also discussed.