Open Access

ARTICLE

Structural Amorphization and Ionic Transport Behavior of Phytagel–NaClO₄ Biopolymer Electrolytes

Norlela Manja Ahmad¹, Farisha Irdina Muhammad Ridzuan¹, Nur Farisha Sulthan Hussain¹, Siti Zafirah Zainal Abidin^1,2,*

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

* Corresponding Author: Siti Zafirah Zainal Abidin. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Innovative Smart Polymeric Materials for Sustainable Energy Solutions: Bridging Advances in Energy and Biomedical Applications)

Journal of Polymer Materials 2026, 43(2), 21 https://doi.org/10.32604/jpm.2026.078419

Received 31 December 2025; Accepted 25 March 2026; Issue published 30 June 2026

Abstract

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.

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