Green polymer electrolytes based on chitosan and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate

Green polymer electrolytes based on chitosan as the polymer matrix and ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate [Bmim][OAc] as charge carriers were prepared by solution casting technique. Complexes with various amount of ionic liquid loading were investigated as possible ionic conducting polymers. The ionic conductivity was found to increase with increasing weight percent of ionic liquid. The highest ionic conductivity of the charged chitosan-[Bmim][OAc] was 2.44 × 10−3 S cm−1 at 90 wt.% of [Bmim][OAc] content at ambient temperature. Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy has proven the interaction between chitosan and [Bmim][OAc]. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) has shown that the amorphosity of the complexes increase as the amount of [Bmim][OAc] increase.