A new and thermally stable poly (ethyl methacrylate) incorporated with 1-ethyl-3methylimidazolium bis(trifluorosulfonyl) imide ionic liquid electrolytes were prepared using solution casting technique. Interaction between the polymer and ionic liquid was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The presence of amorphous phase which increased with increasing ionic liquid content was observed from scanning electron microscopic analysis. This result can be correlated to the decreased in glass transition temperature and the melting point of the sample obtained from differential scanning calorimetry. The addition of EMITFSI in PEMA matrix improved the thermal stability of the polymer electrolytes up to approximately 300 °C. The sample showed a maximum conductivity of 9.75 × 10 −5 S cm −1 at 100 °C with activation energy value of 0.69 eV. The result obtained from linear sweep voltammetry revealed that the electrolyte system exhibited a reasonably wide electrochemical window.

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Nanocomposite polymer electrolytes were prepared by dispersing different compositions of nanosized magnesium oxide (MgO) as ceramic nanofiller in poly(ethyl methacrylate) (PEMA)220 wt% magnesium triflate (MgTf 2 )240 wt% 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide (EMITFSI) electrolytes. The role of ionic liquid, magnesium salt, and ceramic nanofiller were visualized by various physical and electrochemical analyses including scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, electrical impedance spectroscopy, and linear sweep voltammetry. The improvement of ionic liquid retention property has been observed by formation of free standing films of PEMA-40 wt% EMITFSI-20 wt% MgTf 2 dispersed with MgO. The smoothness of the films' surface observed in SEM images suggested the amorphous nature of the films. The room temperature ionic conductivity was improved up to 10 25 S/cm by the incorporation of 1 wt% of MgO nanofiller in the polymer electrolytes. Temperature dependent ionic conductivity showed the Arrhenius-like behavior with ionic conductivity of 3.78 3 10 24 S/cm at 1008C. The polymer electrolyte also showed enhanced electrochemical stability window. POLYM. COMPOS.,

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Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have attracted much attention since the first report written by O' Regan and Grätzel [1] in 1991 due to their simple preparation procedure, low-cost, environmental compatibility and good performance under diffuse light conditions. To date, the highest solar cell efficiency has reached 13 % [2-3] using liquid electrolytes. However, liquid electolytes possess challenges for practical applications such as leakage and volatilization, packaging problem and toxicity [3-4].