DOI: https://doi.org/10.55373/mjchem.v27i2.148

Keywords: Epoxidized natural rubber; chitosan; polymer blend; lithium perchlorate; conductivity

Abstract

Polymer blend electrolytes (PBE) are efficient electrolyte systems that hold great potential in various applications, especially fuel cells and lithium-ion batteries. Their ongoing development has the potential to advance energy storage technology, resulting in better and longer-lasting capacity degradation. For this study, a solvent casting method was used to mix epoxidized natural rubber (ENR), chitosan (CTS) and lithium perchlorate (LiClO₄), while maintaining the 50:50 polymer ratio for each level of ENR. The mix of ENR grades and CTS had different levels of miscibility, which was supported by ATR-FTIR analysis of the chemical structure and the changes that happened when LiClO₄ was added. For each blend, TGA analysis identified two stages of thermal degradation that occurred at various temperatures. In the case of the ENR-25/CTS blend, these stages were observed at 231 °C and 345 °C, while for the ENR-50/CTS blend, they occurred at 233-343 °C with T_max at 250 °C and 343-482 °C with T_max at 378 °C, respectively. The ATR-FTIR analysis showed that the Li⁺ cations in the ENR/CTS/LiClO₄ blend electrolyte samples interacted with the NH₂ and C-O-C groups. Impedance analysis revealed conductivity values of 2.58 x 10^-3 S/cm for the ENR-25/CTS/LiClO₄ blend, and 3.12 x 10^-3 S/cm for the ENR-50/CTS/LiClO₄ blend.