Malaysian Journal of Analytical Sciences, Vol 28 No 1 (2024): 236 - 246

 

IONIC TRANSPORT AND STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF BIOPOLYMER ELECTROLYTE BASED ON AGAROSE INTEGRATED WITH SODIUM NITRATE

 

(Kajian Pengangkutan Ion dan Struktur kepada Elektrolit Biopolimer Berdasarkan Penggabungan antara Agarose dan Natrium Nitrat)

 

Nur Farisha Sulthan Hussain1, Siti Zafirah Zainal Abidin1,2*, Nora Aishah Ahmad Shaharuddin1,

Raja Nur Qurratu Ain Raja Syiarizzad1, Siti Rudhziah Che Balian3

 

1Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

2Ionic Materials and Devices (iMADE) Research Laboratory, Institute of Science, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

3Centre of Foundation Studies, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Cawangan Selangor, Kampus Dengkil, Dengkil 43800, Selangor, Malaysia

 

*Corresponding author: szafirah@uitm.edu.my

 

 

Received: 15 September 2023; Accepted: 30 December 2023; Published:  28 February 2024

 

 

Abstract

The central focus of this paper revolves around investigating biopolymer electrolyte films characterized by exceptional ionic conductivity, a prerequisite for the practical implementation of sodium-ion batteries. This study successfully prepared the agarose-based biopolymer electrolyte using the solution casting method. The effects of adding various weight percentages (0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 wt.%) of sodium nitrate salt (NaNO3) to agarose-based biopolymer electrolytes were characterized. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) was adapted to analyze the conductivity and dielectric relaxation phenomena of the agarose-NaNO3 complex. The conductivity of agarose-based biopolymer electrolytes increases with the increasing salt concentration. The increase in ionic conductivity is due to the increase in the number of charge carriers and the mobility of the sodium ions. The highest room temperature conductivity was 3.44×10-5 S⋅cm-1 for the agarose-NaNO3 biopolymer electrolytes containing 30 wt.% sodium nitrate. X-ray diffractometer (XRD) spectroscopy was employed to investigate the crystallinity of the agarose-based biopolymer electrolyte. It was confirmed that the agarose-based biopolymer with 30 wt.% of sodium nitrate is the most amorphous compared to the others, as it has the largest full width at half maximum (FWHM) and the smallest crystallite size. This indicated that the amorphousness of the biopolymer electrolyte boosts the Na+ ions' mobility, increasing the ionic conductivity of the samples.

 

Keywords: biopolymer electrolyte, agarose, sodium nitrate, conductivity, dielectric constant, crystallite size

 

Abstrak

Tumpuan utama dalam artikel ini adalah berkisar tentang penyelidikan untuk filem electrolit biopolymer yang dicirikan oleh kekonduksian ionik yang luar biasa, prasyarat untuk pelaksanaan praktikal dalam bateri natrium-ion. Dalam kajian ini, elektrolit biopolimer berasaskan agarosa telah disediakan dengan jayanya menggunakan kaedah penuangan larutan. Kesan penambahan pelbagai peratusan berat (0, 10, 20, 30 dan 40 wt.%) garam natrium nitrat (NaNO3) kepada elektrolit biopolimer berasaskan agarosa dicirikan.  Spektroskopi impedans elektrokimia (EIS) telah disesuaikan untuk menganalisis fenomena masa pengenduran kekonduksian dan dielektrik kompleks agarosa-NaNO3. Kekonduksian elektrolit biopolimer berasaskan agarosa meningkat dengan kepekatan garam yang semakin meningkat. Peningkatan kekonduksian ionik adalah disebabkan oleh peningkatan bilangan pembawa cas dan mobiliti ion natrium. Kekonduksian suhu bilik tertinggi ialah 3.44×10-5 S⋅cm-1 untuk elektrolit biopolimer agarose-NaNO3 yang mengandungi 30 wt.% natrium nitrat. Spektroskopi pembelauan sinar-X (XRD) digunakan untuk menyiasat kehabluran elektrolit biopolimer berasaskan agarosa. Telah disahkan bahawa biopolimer berasaskan agarosa dengan 30 wt.% natrium nitrat adalah yang paling amorf berbanding yang lain, kerana ia mempunyai lebar penuh terbesar pada separuh maksimum (FWHM) dan saiz hablur halus terkecil. Ini menunjukkan bahawa amorfus elektrolit biopolimer meningkatkan mobiliti ion-ion Na+ sekali gus meningkatkan kekonduksian ionik sampel.

 

Kata kunci: elektrolit biopolimer, agarose, natrium nitrat, kekonduksian, pemalar dielektrik, saiz kristal

 

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