Solid polymer electrolytes as a prospective class of electrolytes

Abstract

Electrolytes have been identified as one of the most influential components for the performance of electrochemical devices. In literature, there are several generations in the field of electrolytes and among them Solid Polymer Electrolytes (SPEs) have received a great interest. The first ever SPE has been introduced to the world around 1973. Thereafter, so many modifications have been done in order to uplift the characteristics of SPEs. In general, SPE is a blend of a polymer, a salt and solvent/s. With respect to SPEs, there are some special features of interest encompassing ionic conductivity, transference number etc. Various characterization techniques are being practiced to evaluate those properties and some of them are Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), Cyclic voltammetry (CV) test, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Looking back at the past as well as the present day of SPEs, it can envisage that they will appear in future with a huge number of reforms.