LAUSR

In this work, we studied polymer electrolytes (PEs) that had the natural polymer chitosan as their matrix host. Different quantities of an ionic liquid that contains the lanthanide dysprosium as part of the anion, were incorporated in the chitosan matrix through the solvent casting method. The thermal, morphological and electrochemical properties of the membranes were accessed. The results, obtained by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), force microscopy (AFM), and complex impedance spectroscopy, revealed a minimum thermal stability of about 139 °C; a predominantly amorphous morphology combined with the presence of small crystalline domains and a satisfactory ionic conductivity. The sample with the highest ionic conductivity was the chitosan1[C2mim][Dy(SCN)4], (where 1 corresponds to the quotient between the mass of the polymer and the mass of the IL) which attained 6.76 × 10−6 S.cm−1 at 30 °C and 5.62 × 10−4 S.cm−1 at 100 °C. The results presented here suggest that these materials are promising and may find application in practical electrochemical devices.