PMMA based protonic polymer gel electrolytes

The paper reports the synthesis of protonic polymer gel electrolytes containing different hydroxy benzoic acids (ortho-, meta- and para-) and aliphatic dicarboxylic acids. Gel electrolytes were prepared by adding polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) in different weight ratios to the 1M solution of above acids in a ternary solvent mixture of propylene carbonate (PC), ethylene carbonate (EC) and dimethylformamide (DMF) in equal volume ratio. The conductivity of these gel electrolytes has been found to depend upon the amount of PMMA added to the system. A “Breathing Polymeric Chain Model” has been proposed to explain the variation of conductivity with PMMA concentration in these gel electrolytes.