Electron beam irradiation effect on polymer blend electrolyte films: Thermal and conductivity studies

The influence of 8 MeV electron beam (EB) energy radiation on PVDF-HFP/PEO (w/w 90:10- PHP10) polymer blend electrolyte film was studied. The change in surface morphology by decreasing the size of spherulites with increasing EB dose was observed. Thermal studies confirm the increased thermal stability and crystallinity found to decrease significantly from 57.62 to 38.25 % at 120 kGy dose. The significant changes in dielectric parameters and conductivity with frequency, temperature as well as EB dose were noticed and those changes are attributed to degradation of the polymer electrolyte film and help to increase the charge carrier concentration. An electrical conductivity of 1.5 x 10−3 S/cm with 0.34 eV activation energy was observed for 120 kGy dose. These obtained results confirm that physical properties of polymer blend electrolyte film can be improved by EB irradiation as applicable in potential and storage applications.