DSC characterization of ion beam modifications in ion conducting PEO–salt polymers

Ion conducting polymer films have been prepared by complexing non-conducting poly-(ethylene-oxide), PEO, with x fraction of NH4ClO4 salt. Since its electrical conductivity showed a maximum at x somewhere between 0.18 and 0.19, such polymer films having 17 and 19 wt% salt, have been chosen and irradiated by 160 MeV Ne6+ beam. The films have been investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and ac impedance spectroscopy before and after the irradiations. Irradiation-induced shift of an endotherm in our DSC indicates a rise in the melting temperature from 54.6 °C to 57.9 °C for the 19% film. Cross-linking by the Ne-irradiation making the polymer structure more rigid can explain this as well as our other observation of a decrease in electrical conductivity.