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Poly-acrylonitrile-based gel-polymer electrolytes for sodium-ion batteries

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Abstract

Research and development activities on sodium-ion batteries are becoming prominent in the past few years. Compared to lithium-based batteries, the sodium-based batteries will be cheaper because of the abundancy of sodium raw materials in the earth’s crust and also in seawater. In the current study, we synthesized and characterized poly-acrylonitrile (PAN)-based gel-polymer electrolytes formed with NaClO4 and dissolved in ethylene carbonate (EC) and propylene carbonate (PC). By systematically varying the weight ratios of polymer, salt, and the solvents, we obtained an optimum room temperature ionic conductivity of 4.5 mS cm−1 for the composition 11PAN-12NaClO4-40EC-37PC (wt.%), which is reasonably good for practical applications. This value of conductivity is comparable to a few other Na+ ion conducting gel-polymer electrolyte systems studied in the recent past. Variation of ionic conductivity with inverse temperature showed Arrhenius behavior. Activation energies estimated for all the samples showed only a slight variation suggesting that a single activation process which depends on the EC/PC co-solvent governs the ionic mobility in these gel-polymer electrolytes. Thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) revealed that there is no noticeable weight loss of these electrolytes up to 100 °C and hence the electrolytes are thermally stable for operating temperatures up to 100 °C.

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Acknowledgement

KV acknowledges National Science Foundation (NSF), Sri Lanka, for offering an Overseas Special Training Fellowship (No. OSTP/2016/02) to visit the Arizona State University during March-April, 2016. KV and PR acknowledge National Research Council (NRC), Sri Lanka, for the financial assistance (Grant No. NRC 15-078) to the project. KV also acknowledges University Research Grant (URG-2014) obtained from the University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Jaffna, Jaffna, 40000, Sri Lanka

    K. Vignarooban & P. Ravirajan

  2. The Polytechnic School, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, Arizona State University, Mesa, AZ, 85212, USA

    K. Vignarooban, P. Badami & A. M. Kannan

  3. School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA

    P. Badami

  4. National Institute of Fundamental Studies, Hantana Road, Kandy, 20000, Sri Lanka

    M. A. K. L. Dissanayake

Authors
  1. K. Vignarooban
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  2. P. Badami
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  3. M. A. K. L. Dissanayake
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  4. P. Ravirajan
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  5. A. M. Kannan
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to K. Vignarooban or A. M. Kannan.

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Vignarooban, K., Badami, P., Dissanayake, M.A.K.L. et al. Poly-acrylonitrile-based gel-polymer electrolytes for sodium-ion batteries. Ionics 23, 2817–2822 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-017-2002-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-017-2002-4

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