Impedance spectroscopic study of biodegradable PVA/PVP doped TBAI ionic liquid polymer electrolyte

This work aims to understand the ion conduction mechanism in polymer electrolyte membranes. Polyvinyl alcohol and polyvinyl pyrrolidone are chosen as polymer matrix and tetrabutylammonium-iodide as the ionic liquid among various synthetic polymers. Four samples named A-1, A-2, A-3, and A-4 have been synthesized by various concentrations and characterized the membranes through impedance spectroscopy analysis which uncovers the conductivity features of the electrolyte. Out of the four samples, the one with 25 wt.% ionic liquid sample shows better performance than the rest of the samples. The prepared membrane was analysed and understood various parameters such as impedance analysis, dielectric constant, dielectric loss, and electric modulus. The activation energy was calculated for the samples A-2, A-3, and A-4, as 0.27 eV, 0.96 eV and 2.97 eV, respectively. The Arrhenius models for carrier transport have been explained to interpret the conduction mechanism in polymer membranes. The present work has been focused on studying the effect of tetrabutylammonium-iodide ionic liquid on polyvinyl alcohol and polyvinyl pyrrolidone polymer matrix as an electrolyte membrane and the possibility of using this as an electrolyte membrane in devices such as fuel cells, supercapacitors, and batteries.