Papers by Author: S.R. Majid

Abstract: A gel electrolyte system was prepared by dissolving poly(methyl methacrylate) in ethylene carbonate and propylene carbonate doped with salicylic acid and plasticized with dibutylphthalate (DBP). The gel was heated to 70 0C before it was cast into glass dishes. The composition of the electrolytes was 35 wt% EC, 30 wt% PC, 5 wt% SA, 5wt% DBP and 25 wt% PMMA. The gel electrolyte was sandwiched between two stainless-steel blocking electrodes and impedance measurements were conducted. The conductivity of the gel electrolyte was 2.03 x 10-4 S cm-1 at room temperature. The conductivity activation energy was obtained from the log σ versus 103/T graph. Loss tangent was calculated at every frequency for all temperatures. From the tan δ versus frequency plot, the activation energy of relaxation of the ion was calculated and plotted as ln τ versus 103/T. The conductivity activation energy value was (0.21 ± 0.04) eV and the activation energy of relaxation was (0.24±0.07) eV. The similarity between these activation energies imply that the protons ‘hop’ from one electronegative oxygen site in DBP to another.

Abstract: Hexanoyl chitosan that exhibited solubility in THF was prepared by acyl modification of chitosan. Films of hexanoyl chitosan-based polymer electrolyte were prepared by the technique of solution casting. The effect of plasticizers on the electrical properties of hexanoyl chitosan: LiCF3SO3 electrolytes have been investigated. The plasticizers used were EC, PC and a mixture of EC and PC. The highest room temperature conductivity of about 1.1 x 10-4 S cm-1 was achieved for electrolyte with composition of 50:50 (wt.%) mixture of PC: EC. The variations in conductivity have been explained using the Rice and Roth model from which the numbers of free ions per unit volume, mobility and diffusion coefficient of free ions were obtained. Electrochemical cells based on LiCoO2/MCMB couple were assembled using the electrolyte that exhibited the highest ionic conductivity. The performance of the cells have been studied and discussed in this paper.

Abstract: Measurement of the ionic conductivity for the CA-NH4CF3SO3-DMC system was carried out at frequencies of 50 Hz to1 MHz and also at temperatures of 298 K to 313 K. The plot of log σ versus 1000/T shows a linear behavior suggesting that the samples obey the Arrhenius relationship. The electrical relaxation of the system was analyzed using the complex electric modulus M* of the sample with the highest ionic conductivity at various temperatures. The analysis of electrical modulus and dissipation factor (tan δ) shows that charge transport occurs through a hopping mechanism.

Abstract: The plasticized PEO-KOH films have been investigated using the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The conductivity of films increased by about 2 orders of magnitude from 10-5 to 10-3 S cm-1 at r.t. on addition of 0.5 wt.% of ethylene sulphite (ES). The degree of crystallinity was calculated from the XRD patterns. SEM micrographs show that the plasticized films were porous. The highest conductivity of plasticized films at r.t. was (1.3 ± 0.2) x 10-3 S cm-1 for the film with 0.5 wt.% of ES content. The number density of mobile ions was shown to increase indicating that ES has dissociated more salts into ions and thereby increasing the conductivity.