Effect of TiO2 nanoparticles on structural, thermal, mechanical and ionic conductivity studies of PEO12–LiTDI solid polymer electrolyte

• PEO12–LiTDI–TiO2 nanocomposite electrolytes were synthesized for Li-ion batteries.
• Strong interaction among PEO, LiTDI and TiO2 was confirmed by FTIR studies.
• TiO2 gave significant enhancement in thermal stability and mechanical strength of SPEs.
• Effect of TiO2 nanofiller on conductivity increase in PEO12–LiTDI is reported.

In the present study, poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) complexed with lithium 2-trifluoromethyl-4,5-dicyanoimidazole (LiTDI) nanocomposite solid polymer electrolyte membranes (NSPEMs) have been prepared by solution cast technique using different weight percent of nano-sized TiO2 ceramic filler. The effect of filler incorporation on the structural, thermal, mechanical and ionic conductivity properties of solid polymer electrolytes have analyzed. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and polarized optical microscopy (POM) results indicated that the crystallinity has been reduced remarkably with the incorporation of TiO2 nanofiller. The thermal stability and mechanical integrity of the nanocomposite polymer electrolyte system increased significantly compared to filler free electrolytes. The maximum ionic conductivity is found to be in the range of 2.11 × 10−5 S cm−1 for 8 wt% TiO2 nanofiller in PEO12–LiTDI electrolyte system. These results indicated that the prepared TiO2 based nanocomposite membrane would be a promising alternative separator for rechargeable lithium-ion battery applications.

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