Agar-based films for application as polymer electrolytes

New types of polymer electrolytes based on agar have been prepared and characterized by impedance spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction measurements, UV–vis spectroscopy and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). The best ionic conductivity has been obtained for the samples containing a concentration of 50 wt.% of acetic acid. As a function of the temperature the ionic conductivity exhibits an Arrhenius behavior increasing from 1.1 × 10−4 S/cm at room temperature to 9.6 × 10−4 S/cm at 80 °C. All the samples showed more than 70% of transparency in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum, a very homogeneous surface and a predominantly amorphous structure. All these characteristics imply that these polymer electrolytes can be applied in electrochromic devices.