Nanofiber induced enhancement of electrical and electrochemical properties in polymer gel electrolytes for application in energy storage devices

In this article, a significant study on ionic conduction properties of novel nanocomposite polymer gel electrolytes (NCPGEs) is carried out using poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) with nanofibers of silica (SiO2) complexed with lithium perchlorate (LiClO4) by combining experimental work and computational modelling. The compositional variation of SiO2 nanofibers in polymer electrolytes induces a visible alteration in different characteristics like ionic conductivity, electrochemical stability, interfacial stability, surface morphology and optical properties. Among all the compositions, NCPGEs containing 5 wt% nanofibers exhibit maximum ionic conductivity of 4.6 x 10-3 Scm-1 at room temperature. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) has shown a better interaction between lithium ions (Li+) with carbonyl group of PMMA in presence of SiO2 nanofibers. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has confirmed various interactions among different constituents in NCPGEs. A combined molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and density functional theory (DFT) show a stable interaction between polymer with nanofiber filler and Li salt. (c) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.