Conductivity and transport studies of plasticized chitosan-based proton conducting biopolymer electrolytes

Abstract

This paper focuses on the conductivity and transport properties of chitosan-based solid biopolymer electrolytes containing ammonium thiocyanate (NH 4 SCN). The sample containing 40 wt% NH 4 SCN exhibited the highest conductivity value of (1.81 ± 0.50) × 10 −4 S cm −1 at room temperature. Conductivity has increased to (1.51 ± 0.12) × 10 −3 S cm −1 with the addition of 25 wt% glycerol. The temperature dependence of conductivity for both salted and plasticized systems obeyed the Arrhenius rule. The activation energy (E a) was calculated for both systems and it is found that the sample with 40 wt% NH 4 SCN in the salted system obtained an E a value of 0.148 eV and that for the sample containing 25 wt% glycerol in the plasticized system is 0.139 eV. From the Fourier transform infrared studies, carboxamide and amine bands shifted to lower wavenumbers, indicating that chitosan has interacted with NH 4 SCN salt. Changes in the CO stretching vibration band intensity are observed at 1067 cm −1 with the addition of glycerol. The Rice and Roth model was used to explain the transport properties of the salted and plasticized systems.

The Effect of Plasticization on Conductivity and Other Properties of Starch/Chitosan Blend Biopolymer Electrolyte Incorporated with Ammonium Iodide

“…B3 sample). This is because glycerol possesses a high dielectric constant which can weaken the Coulombic force between cation and anion of the salt hence more undissociated salt becomes free mobile ions [29]. Furthermore, the addition of plasticizer can create more pathways for ion conduction and can also increase ionic mobility [30,31].…”

“…Furthermore, the addition of plasticizer can create more pathways for ion conduction and can also increase ionic mobility [30,31]. Shukur et al [29] reported that when ethylene carbonate (EC) was added to the starch-chitosan-NH 4 Br based electrolytes, the conductivity increased from 9.72 × 10 −5 to 1.44 × 10 −3 S cm −1 . From Fig.…”

Preparation and characterization of biopolymer electrolyte based on cellulose acetate for potential applications in energy storage devices

“…ion and the conduction occur through the exchange of ions between complexed sites. Preparation of biopolymer based chitosan with ammonium thiocyanate (NH 4 SCN) has attracted many researchers for the development of high conducting biopolymer electrolyte [20,21].…”

Protonic Transport Analysis of Starch-Chitosan Blend Based Electrolytes and Application in Electrochemical Device

“…Hence, the ions require less energy to hop over to the next site. The plasticization method also can dissociate more salt to become ions which contributes towards ionic conduction [29]. The conductivity of ∼ 10 −7 S cm −1 of a chitosan-lithium acetate (LiOAc) electrolyte was increased to 5.5 × 10 −6 S cm −1 when plasticized with palmitic acid [30,31].…”