| Abstract: | The FT‐IR spectra of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)‐based gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs), PEO‐NaSCN‐propylene carbonate (PC) and PEO‐NaSCN‐ethylene carbonate (EC), were measured at room temperature. Along with the FT‐IR spectra of NaSCN‐PC, PEO‐PC, and PEO‐EC, the interactions in the GPEs and the plasticizations of PC and EC are revealed. It is shown that the coordination of ether oxygen in PEO with NaSCN is the preferential solvation, whereas the interactions of PC and EC with NaSCN are relatively weak in the GPEs. However, both PC and EC play an important role in inhibiting the formation of crystalline complexes and high ionic aggregations, in addition to the ability of transformation of PEO from crystal to amorphism. It is further observed that EC exhibits the stronger ability to transform PEO crystalline into amorphism than PC when the plasticizer content in PEO is more than 25%, and also the far stronger ability to decompose the crystalline complexes, in particular, in polymer electrolytes with high salt content. |
