Complex impedance and conductivity of agar-based ion-conducting polymer electrolytes

Agar-based electrolyte standing films with different salts and weak acids as ion and proton conductors were prepared and characterized by X-ray diffraction, UV–visible spectrophotometry, photoluminescence emission spectroscopy and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The salts used are lithium perchlorate (LiClO4) and potassium perchlorate (KClO4), while the weak acids used are acetic acid (CH3COOH) and lactic acid (C3H6O3). The values of the ion conductivity obtained for the agar-based polymer films are 6.54 × 10−8, 9.12 × 10−8, 3.53 × 10−8, 2.24 × 10−8 S/cm for the agar/acetic acid, agar/lactic acid, agar/LiClO4 and agar/KClO4 polymer films, respectively. As a function of temperature, the ion conductivity exhibits an Arrhenius behavior and the estimated activation energy is ≈0.1 eV for all the samples. The samples depicted high values of dielectric permittivity toward low frequencies which is due mostly to electrode polarization effect. The samples showed very high transparency (85–98 %) in the visible region, and this high transparency is one of the major requirements for application in electrochromic devices (ECD). The values of conductivity and activation energy obtained indicate that the electrolytes are good materials for application in ECD.