Rheology and microscopic heterogeneity of poly(ethylene oxide) solid polymer electrolytes

Lack of precise thermal control in poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-based solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) with molar masses well above M > 104g mol−1during preparatory stage often demonstrates molar mass dependence on thermal properties and ionic conductivities. In the earlier study, PEO-based SPEs were heated under inert atmosphere above the melting temperature of PEO and then cooled down for subsequent isothermal crystallization. The system demonstrates insignificant variation with respect to molar mass of PEO at constant salt concentration for thermal properties, ionic conductivity and intermolecular interaction. Here, we report the subsequent results of rheology and microscopic heterogeneity as a function of PEO molar mass (Mɳ= 3 × 105and 4 × 106g mol−1) and lithium salt concentration (0–13 wt.%). Above the solubility limit of PEO, the glass transition studied using differential scanning calorimetry shows the presence of microscopic heterogeneity of the systems as indicated by the change in enthalpy of endothermic overshoot near the endset of glass transition. Rheological parameters were measured over a wide range of frequency (0.01 to 100 Hz) at different temperatures (30, 60 and 80 °C) using parallel plate geometry. Melt rheology system reveals that neat PEO at 80 °C exhibits restriction in the long-range motion of the chains. When incorporated with salt, it exhibits further deviation from the terminal viscoelastic relaxation behaviour. This study agrees with our previous findings that influence of molar mass of PEO in this range is insignificant on the melt rheology and microscopic heterogeneity at constant salt concentration.