Preparation and characterization of novel solid polymer blend electrolytes based on poly (vinyl pyrrolidone) with various concentrations of lithium perchlorate

•The maximum ionic conductivity value was found to be 0.2307 × 10−5 S cm−1 for PEO(90 wt%)/PVP(10 wt%)/LiClO4(8 wt%) based electrolyte at room temperature.•The structural and functional groups were studied by XRD and FTIR.•Both direct and indirect optical band gap values were evaluated from UV–vis analysis.•The change in viscosity of the polymer electrolytes was studied by photoluminescence spectra.

A series of conducting novel solid polymer blend electrolytes (SPE) based on the fixed ratio of poly (ethylene oxide)/poly (vinyl pyrrolidone) (PEO/PVP) and various concentrations of salt lithium perchlorate (LiClO4) were prepared by solvent casting technique. Structural and complex formation of the prepared electrolytes was confirmed by X-ray diffraction and FTIR analyses. The maximum ionic conductivity value was found to be 0.2307 × 10−5 S cm−1 for 8 wt% of LiClO4 based system at ambient temperature. Thermal stability of the present system was studied by thermo gravimetric/differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA). Surface morphology of the sample having maximum ionic conductivity was studied by atomic force microscope (AFM). Optical properties like direct and indirect band gaps were investigated by UV–vis analysis. The change in viscosity of the polymer complexes were also identified using photoluminescence emission spectra. PEO(90)/PVP(10)/LiClO4(8) has the highest conductivity which is supported by the lowest optical band gap and lowest intensity in photoluminescence spectroscopy near 400–450 nm.

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