A new nanocomposite polymer electrolyte based on poly(vinyl alcohol) incorporating hypergrafted nano-silica

Solid-state nanocomposite polymer electrolytes based on poly(vinyl alcohol)(PVA) incorporating hyperbranched poly(amine-ester) (HBPAE) grafted nano-silica (denoted as SiO2-g-HBPAE) have been prepared and investigated. Through surface pretreatment of nanoparticles, followed by Michael-addition and a self-condensation process, hyperbranched poly(amine-ester) was directly polymerized from the surface of nano-silica. Then the hypergrafted nanoparticles were added to PVA matrix, and blended with lithium perchlorate via mold casting method to fabricate nanocomposite polymer electrolytes. By introducing hypergrafted nanoparticles, ionic conductivity of solid composite is improved significantly at the testing temperature. Hypergrafted nano-silica may act as solid plasticizer, promoting lithium salt dissociation in the matrix as well as improving segmental motion of matrix. In addition, tensile testing shows that such materials are soft and tough even at room temperature. From the dielectric spectra of nanocomposite polymer electrolyte as the function of temperature, it can be deduced that Arrhenius behavior appears depending on the content of hypergrafted nano-silica and concentration of lithium perchlorate. At a loading of 15 wt% hypergrafted nano-silica and 54 wt% lithium perchlorate, promising ionic conductivities of PVA nanocomposite polymer electrolyte are achieved, about 1.51 × 10 $^{-4}$ S cm$^{-1}$ at 25 °C and 1.36 × 10$^{-3}$ S cm$^{-1}$ at 100 °C. © The Royal Society of Chemistry.