THE EFFECT OF MICROWAVE DRYING ON POLYMER ELECTROLYTE CONDUCTIVITY

The morphology and conductivity of polymer electrolytes based on PEO a re often substantially modified by the presence of water. A number of different approaches have commonly been used to eliminate water from p olymer electrolyte films. The work reported here extends our earlier i nvestigations of the use of microwaves for the rapid drying of solvent cast polymer electrolyte films. Films of PEO(n):NiBr2 and PEO(n):ZnCl 2 have been prepared by normal casting techniques and then studied usi ng EXAFS, DSC and ac conductivity measurements.