Synthesis of Solid Polymer Blend Electrolytes Based on PVP/PAN/Ammonium
Thiocyanate: Structural, Electrical, Dielectric and Electrochemical Analysis

In this work, a solution casting technique was used to prepare stable and free-standing films of blend
polymer electrolytes composed of polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) complexed
with ammonium thiocyanate (NH4SCN) salt in various compositions. The physical characterization
by X-ray diffraction (XRD) was performed to study the structural properties of the samples.
Characteristics of these electrolytes were also examined using impedance technique, dielectric studies,
transport number measurement (TNM) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV). The results showed that
cationic transport predominated in highly amorphous films. Impedance spectroscopy was utilized to
determine the dependence of electrical properties on both composition and temperature. The temperature
dependence of the electrical conductivity showed behaviour similar to that of Arrhenius type. It was
found that the highest ion conducting polymer blend electrolyte led to lower activation energy.