Effect of epoxidation level on thermal properties and ionic conductivity of epoxidized natural rubber solid polymer nanocomposite electrolytes

Effect of epoxide content on the thermal and conductivity properties of epoxidized natural rubber (ENR) solid polymer nanocomposite electrolytes was investigated. Commercial available epoxidized natural rubber having 25 (ENR25) and 50 mole% (ENR50) epoxide, respectively were incorporated with lithium perchlorate (LiClO4) salt and titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanofiller via solution casting method. The solid polymer nanocomposite electrolytes were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and impedance spectroscopy (IS) for their thermal properties and conductivity, respectively. It was evident that introduction of LiClO4 causes a greater increase in glass transition temperature (Tg) and ionic conductivity of ENR50 as compared to ENR25. Upon addition of TiO2 in ENR/LiClO4 system, a remarkable Tg elevation was observed for both ENRs where ENR50 reveals a more pronounced changes. It is interesting to note that they exhibit different phenomenon in ionic conductivity with TiO2 loading where ENR25 shows enhancement of conductivity while ENR50 shows declination.