Solid terpolymer electrolyte based on poly(vinyl butyral‐co‐vinyl alcohol‐co‐vinyl acetate) incorporated with lithium salt and tetraglyme for EDLCs

Solid terpolymer electrolytes (STEs) consist of different ratios of poly(vinyl butyral-co-vinyl alcohol-co-vinyl acetate) (PVBVA) and bis(trifluoromethane) sulfonamide lithium salt (LiTFSi) were prepared and the ionic conductivity of the prepared STEs was evaluated. The optimized STE (denoted as STE 20) was further doped with various amount of tetraglyme (10, 20, and 30 wt % and denoted as G10, G20, and G30, respectively). G20 enhanced the ionic conductivity from 6.22 (for STE 20) to 21.9 µS cm⁻¹. This enhancement is due to the presence of abundant oxygen-containing functional group in tetraglyme that provides more charge carrier mobility in the polymer matrix. The structure and complexation of the materials are authenticated via X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis. The performance of electric double layer capacitors based on activated carbon (AC) fabricated with STE 20 (AC/STE 20/AC) and G20 (AC/G 20/AC) were studied via cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge–discharge, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. AC/G 20/AC achieved the maximum specific capacitance of 10.20 F/g [which is higher than AC/STE 20/AC (9.30 F/g)] with 75% of specific capacitance retention after 1500 cycles. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018 , 135, 45902.