High Performance Lithium Ion-Conducting Plasticized Biopolymer Electrolyte for Supercapacitor Application

Lithium-ion based Solid Polymer Electrolytes are synthesized by incorporating lithium perchlorate (LiClO4) salt with Iota-Carrageenan (IC) / Acacia Gum (AG) plasticized with ethylene glycol (EG) by solution casting method. The X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared analysis are used to analyze the structural and molecular complexation. From the AC impedance analysis spectra, it is found that the incorporation of 15 wt% of LiClO4 salt into a blend polymer electrolyte (IAO15) shows the maximum ionic conductivity of 2.02 x 10-2 S/cm and minimum activation energy (0.022 eV). The conduction mechanism for IAO15 sample follows two models (CBH and QMT). The dielectric and modulus spectra confirm the non-Debye nature of the sample. From the Transference Number Measurement, it is observed that the conductivity is due to Li ions and IAO15 sample is chosen for the fabrication of a Symmetrical supercapacitor. At 3.6 Ag-1 current density, the power and energy densities are noted as 7452 Wkg-1 and 165.6 Whkg-1 respectively.