Proton Conductivity and FTIR Studies of Methanesulfonic Acid (MSA) Incorporated Polyacrylamide based Composite Solid Polymer Electrolyte.

Abstract

A new class of Composite Solid Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (CSPE) of Polyacrylamide (PAAm) with Methanesulfonic acid (MSA) was synthesized. The composite membranes were thoroughly characterized by FTIR and proton conducting performance. The highest proton conductivity of 1.17 x 10^-6Scm^-1 was observed at room temperature with the loading of 5M of MSA into the polymer matrix. FTIR spectroscopy was used to study the mechanism involved in the protons transfer in the membranes by referring the characteristic shifts of the absorbance bands of C=O and N-H₂. Thermal parameters such as the glass transition temperature (Tg) and the melting point (Tm) of the polymer membrane with the highest proton conductivity were measured by TGA and DSC. The morphology of the PAAm-5M MSA was observed by FESEM. The valued merits on the proton conductivity, thermal stability and easy synthesis promise the new membranes to be good alternative as CSPE for electrochemical devices.