Effect of LiClO₄ Concentration on Structural, morphological and Thermal Properties of PMMA and PEO Polymer Blends

Structural, morphological and thermal Properties of PMMA-PEO-LiClO₄ solid polymer electrolyte blend films have been studied. PMMA-PEO-LiClO₄ solid polymer electrolyte blend films were prepared using solution casting technique. The blend films were characterized by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). From XRD analysis it is observed that semi crystalline nature of pure PMMA shows that increase in amorphous nature with increasing concentrations of LiClO₄ and PEO to PMMA blend. SEM images suggest that the surface morphology changes severely when LiClO₄ and PEO/PMMA blend polymers, which shows the development of surface morphology from rough to smooth with increasing concentration of LiClO₄ to PMMA/PEO. The smooth morphology is closely related to the interaction/interface between the polymers PMMA/PEO and Li ions due to cross-linking. Melting temperatures (Tm) of polymer electrolyte films were determined by DSC data.