TY - EJOU
AU - Ahmad, Norlela Manja
AU - Ridzuan, Farisha Irdina Muhammad
AU - Hussain, Nur Farisha Sulthan
AU - Abidin, Siti Zafirah Zainal
TI - Structural Amorphization and Ionic Transport Behavior of Phytagel–NaClO4 Biopolymer Electrolytes
T2 - Journal of Polymer Materials
PY -
VL -
IS -
SN - 0976-3449
AB - Materials sustainability is becoming increasingly important across advanced technologies, driving the development of environmentally friendly electrolyte systems. In this work, biopolymer electrolytes were prepared using Phytagel as the host polymer and varying concentrations of sodium perchlorate (NaClO4) as the dopant salt via the solution-casting method for sodium-ion battery applications. The prepared biopolymer electrolytes were characterised using various techniques to assess changes in their morphology and electrical performance. X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirms the crystalline/amorphous nature of the prepared biopolymer electrolytes, and the membrane with 40 wt.% NaClO4 exhibits a high degree of amorphousness. Peak-deconvoluted XRD analysis confirms that optimal NaClO4 loading (40 wt.%) induces maximum amorphisation in the Phytagel matrix, minimising crystallite size and crystallinity, thereby establishing a structurally favorable pathway for enhanced ionic conductivity. From electrical analysis, the ionic conductivity calculated for pure phytagel is 2.97 × 10–5 S.cm-1, and on addition of salt, the 40 wt.% of NaClO4 exhibits enhanced ionic conductivity of 2.41 × 10−4 S.cm-1 at room temperature. These findings emphasise the importance of optimising salt concentration to achieve an effective balance between structural amorphisation and free-ion availability. This work advances Phytagel-based biopolymer electrolytes as a sustainable and high-performance alternative to conventional polymer electrolytes, offering a viable pathway toward greener battery technologies.
KW - Phytagel; sodium perchlorate; biopolymer electrolyte; sodium-ion; structural; electrical
DO - 10.32604/jpm.2026.078419