An Ultraelastic Poly(ethylene oxide)/Soy Protein Film with Fully Amorphous Structure

A new type of ultraelastomeric ion-conductive PEO/SPI (polyethylene/soy protein isolate) film, which was produced by blending the denatured SPI (55 wt %) with PEO was reported. Certain kinds of characteristics, such as strong interaction and miscibility between the components and the full amorphous structure with very low Tg, contribute to both an increase in the ionic conductivity and mechanical properties. Remarkably, this PEO/SPI film has been elongated up to 700% without mechanical damage and 100% without loss of ionic conductivity. In addition, the highly elastic film was achieved counterintuitively from applying a rigid soy protein isolate, a very low cost bio mass product, to form a polymer blend. The results showed that the conductivity and elasticity are both significantly improved with 55 wt % SPI involvement. The film possesses a fully amorphous phase with high ionic conductivity at room temperature.