Influence of non-linear diffusion controlled phenomena on the sorption capability of PEO-Salt-SiO2 composite electrolyte: A study on property optimization

The present research, reports the hygrothermal behavior of poly [ethylene oxide] (PEO) based composite film (500 and1000 μm) containing NH₄I and KBr (5–20 wt%) as the mobile phase and non-reactive silica (15 wt%) as the filler. These are termed as PK/NSiO₂-series for solvent sorbed and (PK/NSiO₂)_NS for non-swelled film. The novelty of the research lies in the analyses of non-Fickian solvent diffusion trait of films using python programming. The presence of ions and its variable polarizable nature is found to influence the number density of bonded and free solvent content along with the extend of cross linkage. Introduction of silica is found to enhance the ionic conductivity (about one order higher) of the film irrespective of the type of charge carrier owing to the improved dispersion within the matrix. Non-Fickian diffusion is found to influence the ionic conductivity of P₂K20SiO₂ (10⁻⁵Scm⁻¹ to 10⁻² Scm⁻¹) minimizing the degradation to 0.2 %ΔC/1000 h (>1 %ΔC/1000 h, tested for 2000 h) compared to P₂N20NSiO₂. In contrast, ion migration in P₂NSiO₂ is guided by Rice and Roth model and being more polarizable ions, the mobility is significant which maximizes the conductivity to ∼10⁻¹ Scm⁻¹. Microstructural study shows heterogenous nucleation to be more pronounced upon addition of silica filler wherein the homogeneity, inter fibrillar interaction and grain growth of spherulites is higher. This tends to extend amorphous regions thereby propagating the ion migration path. The influence of sorption process is studied in terms of electrochemical impedance, dielectric analyses and long term cyclability (20,000 h) in terms of loss tangent.