Conductivity in amorphous polyether nanocomposite materials

Using a completely amorphous polyether we have investigated the effect of t he inclusion of a nano-particulate filler on a polymer electrolyte. Nano-si zed TiO2 is shown not to significantly affect the conductivity of composite electrolytes containing 1.0 or 1.25 mol/kg LiClO4 or 1.5 or 2.0 mol/kg LiT FSI. At 1.5 mol/kg LiClO4 a significant increase in conductivity is observe d. Raman spectroscopy experiments have been used to investigate the effect of filler on ion-aggregation. Only one new vibrational mode can be assigned to the composite which is not due to the polymer electrolyte or the filler . From this work, we believe the increased conductivity observed by previou s researchers as a result of filler addition may be largely attributed to t he effect on the degree of crystallinity along with some disruption of ion- aggregation by the fillers in PEO based electrolytes. (C) 1999 Elsevier Sci ence B.V. All rights reserved.