DOI: https://doi.org/10.55373/mjchem.v27i3.115

Keywords: Poly(methyl methacrylate); silica; rice husk ash; polymer electrolytes; epoxidized natural rubber

Abstract

The issues that related to low ionic conductivity (σ) of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and epoxidized natural rubber (ENR 50) electrolyte system has been succesfully solved with the incorporation of plasticizers. Its mechanical strength is nonetheless diminished as a result of this. On the other hand, the insertion of filler improved the polymer electrolyte results for ionic conductivity and flexibility, while preserving its mechanical characteristics. In this work, the PMMA/ENR 50-based electrolyte system was supplemented with various amounts of silica filler made from rice husk ash (RHA) in weight percentages of 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1.0 by solution casting. The precipitation technique efficiently extracted silica from RHA with a mean particle size of about 75.76 μm. The purity and structure of the silica were validated using energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), respectively. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) studies verify the amorphous nature of the silica. Flexible, free-standing, and homogenous films of silica-doped PMMA/ENR 50-based electrolyte were successfully prepared with the incorporation of up to 0.5 wt.% of silica with the highest σ of 1.37×10^-3 S/cm. This was contributed by the interaction of polymer-filler as the amorphous phase of the system increased, as well as the interaction of salt-filler contributed to the existence of conducting pathway for new Li ion. The analysis from FTIR validated the interactions between polymer-salt-filler systems.