Effect of NiO nanofiller concentration on the properties of PEO-NiO-LiClO4 composite polymer electrolyte

Composite polymer electrolyte films comprising polyethylene oxide (PEO) as the polymer host, LiClO4 as the dopant, and NiO nanoparticle as the inorganic filler was prepared by solution casting technique. NiO inorganic filler was synthesized via sol-gel method. The effect of NiO filler on the ionic conductivity, structure, and morphology of PEO-LiClO4-based composite polymer electrolyte was investigated by AC impedance spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. It was observed that the conductivity of the electrolyte increases with NiO concentration. The highest room temperature conductivity of the electrolyte was 7.4 × 10−4 S cm−1 at 10 wt.% NiO. The observation on structure shows the highest conductivity appears in amorphous phase. This result has been supported by surface morphology analysis showing that the NiO filler are well distributed in the samples. As a conclusion, the addition of NiO nanofiller improves the conductivity of PEO-LiClO4 composite polymer electrolyte.