Electrical,structural, and thermal studies of antimony trioxide-doped poly(acrylic acid)-based composite polymer electrolytes

In this work, we investigate the electrical, structural, and thermal properties of composite polymer electrolytes (CPEs). Different mass fractions of antimony trioxide filler, Sb₂O₃, are added into poly(acrylic acid) (PAA)-based polymer electrolytes with N-lithiotrifluoromethane sulphonamide LiN(SO₂CF₃)₂] (LiTFSI) as doping salt. Characteristics such as alternating current (AC)–impedance spectroscopy, attenuated total reflectance–Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) are analyzed. The highest ionic conductivity of (2.15?±?0.01)?×?10^?4 S cm^?1 is achieved at room temperature with addition of 6 wt% of fillers. The ionic transportation is further proven in a transference number study under DC polarization, whereas ATR-FTIR is employed to explore the complexation between PAA, LiTFSI, and Sb₂O₃. TGA reveals the improved thermal stability of CPEs. The glass transition temperature (T _g) is reduced upon addition of Sb₂O₃ as shown in DSC analysis.