DOI: https://doi.org/10.55373/mjchem.v25i4.99

Keywords: liquid polymer electrolyte; molar conductivity; limiting molar conductivity; Kohlrausch Law; Ostwald’s Dilution Law

Abstract

The limiting molar conductivity (Ʌo) value of an electrolyte is an important physical parameter that evaluates its strength. Liquid polymer electrolytes (LPE) based on polyethylene oxide (PEO) with lithium salts in a common organic solvent have been widely studied. In this paper, we determined the Ʌo value for PEO systems in lithium chloride (LiCl) as well as lithium acetate (CH3COOLi) at room temperature. The molar conductivity (Ʌ) values of these systems were measured at different salt concentrations (Csalt) of 1.0 x 10-3 - 2.0 x 10-7 mol cm-3 in aqueous solution and repeated with methanol (CH3OH) at PEO concentrations (CPEO) of 1.0 x 10-3 - 3.0 x 10-3¬ g cm-3. The compatibility of the experimental data was investigated using the Kohlrausch Law for strong electrolytes and Ostwald’s Dilution Law for weak electrolyte systems. However, as these were found to be unsuitable in determining the Ʌo values for PEO-LiCl-CH3OH and PEO-CH3COOLi-CH3OH, the Power Law was used instead. The Ʌo values obtained after calibration deviated only < 2% from the theoretical values.