Electrical properties of biodegradable poly(ɛ-caprolactone): lithium thiocyanate complexed polymer electrolyte films

• The minimum Tm and χc values are observed in 15 wt% LiSCN complexed film.
• The conductivity of PCL:LiSCN complexed films follows Johnscher's power law.
• Conductivity and dielectric constant follows the same trend.
• The charge carriers responsible for both conduction and relaxation are the same.

Lithium ion conducting polymer electrolyte films based on biodegradable poly(ɛ-caprolactone) (PCL) complexed with lithium thiocyanate (LiSCN) salt were prepared by solution cast technique. Thermal and electrical properties of the polymer electrolyte films were studied using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and ac impedance spectroscopy. In order to investigate the ion conduction mechanism and relaxation behavior of complex polymer electrolyte films, the conductivity, dielectric constant, loss tangent and electric modulus were analyzed as a function of frequency and temperature. The variation of conductivity with frequency obeyed the Johnscher's power law. The dielectric constant exhibited a higher value at a lower frequency and increased with rising temperature due to the polar nature of host polymer. The activation energies for both dc conductivity and relaxation had the same value (∼0.87 eV), implying that the charge carriers responsible for both conduction and relaxation were the same.

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