Ionic conductivity of fabricated carboxymethyl cellulose solid polymer electrolyte with ammonium nitrate / Najah Amani Ahmad Jamri

Solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) has been established as an alternative for liquid electrolyte because it is safer, more stable, and easier to use. SPE consist of inorganic salt and polymer host. Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) is suitable as biobased polymer host for bio-based SPE because it is low-cost, environmentally friendly, and renewable. Ammonium nitrate was added to CMC to enhance the ionic conductivity. The objective of this study is to observe the effect of ammonium nitrate on ionic conductivity of CMC SPE. CMC film with varied amount of ammonium nitrate was prepared using solution casting technique to get a thin film. Then, the thin film was characterized by using Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), Fourier-Transform Infra-Red Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The highest ionic conductivity achieved was 1.83*10-5 at 40% of ammonium nitrate. FTIR shows the complexation of AN at OH sites on CMC structure at range 3331-3176 cm-1. SEM micrographs show the addition of AN smoothen the CMC SPE morphology. However, above 40%, the AN started to precipitate out as white spots observed. FTIR and SEM analysis justified the maximum conductivity achieved at 40% of ammonium nitrate. EDX analysis result showed increased amount of nitrogen as more ammonium nitrate added in the composition. As a conclusion, CMC-AN is a promising candidate for SPE fabrication provided further optimization is carried out.