Polymer electrolytes based on blends of poly(ether urethane) and polysiloxanes

Ionic conductivity of poly(ether urethane) (PEU)-based electrolyte increased up to 10(-5) S/cm at room temperature by blending polysiloxane (KF50) or polyether-modified polysiloxane (KF615A) with PEU. Although the PEU/KF615A blend was a compatible system, the PEU/KF50 blend showed a phase-separated morphology. From the analyses of glass transition temperature, dielectric constant and ion mobility. it was suggested that the improvement of the conductivity is attributed to the increase of ion mobility. which compensates for the decrease of ion density for the PEU/KF50 electrolyte and to the increase of both the ion mobility and ion density for the PEU/KF615A electrolyte. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.