Ionic conductivity in the polymer electrolytes PEO/CF3COONa

In the present work, the electrical and thermal characterization of polymer electrolytes based on PEO/CF3COONa are reported, which turn out to be good ionic conductors near room temperature (of the order 10(-4) Ohm(-1) cm(-1) for high salt concentrations). The variation of conductivity with temperat ure (plotted as In sigma versus 1/T) and salt concentration suggests a comp lex formation. This is confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) , which also indicates that the blends are thermally stable up to approxima tely 480 K. The high conductivity and the single-phase behavior of the blen ds are explained in terms of the plastification effect of the organic salt on the PEG.