Objective 3: To determine the porosity of Gel Polymer Electrolyte

The PVDF nanofiber is cut into a square with varying dimensions and is processed into a doping
solution of PE, PEO, and Toluene. The doped nanofibrous membrane was immersed in n-butanol
for 2 h. The mass of the doped nanofibrous membrane before and after immersion was measured.
The n-butanol does not interact with the membrane it rather penetrates the pores and occupies
all the available pores, and thus gives a measure of the total pore volume in the material (Mahant
2015).

From the data in the experiment, a small difference on the porosity is acquired at various level of
CaO in the doping solution. Here, the concentration of CaO does not really affect the resulting
porosity of the doped GPE (Gel Polymer Electrolyte). Using the one-way analysis of variance
(ANOVA) to know if there are any statistically significant differences between the four groups
(Without CaO, with 2.5% CaO, with 5% CaO, and 7.5% CaO). There is no significant difference
between the four groups after using the one-way (ANOVA). The high porosity can be used to
explain the high electrolyte uptake of polymer electrolyte.

Table 1. Butanol Uptake for Porosity Calculation

Butanol Uptake Apparent Volume Porosity Average
(m3) Porosity

3.09E-08 7.75E-08 40
w/o CaO 3.46E-08 8.24E-08 42 43
3.83E-08 8.04E-08 48
5.31E-08 1.06E-07 50
With 2.5% CaO 5.06E-08 1.04E-07 49 43
3.33E-08 1.06E-07 31
5.06E-08 1.20E-07 42
With 5% CaO 4.69E-08 1.08E-07 43 41
4.32E-08 1.13E-07 38
7.65E-08 1.67E-07 46
With 7.5% CaO 9.01E-08 1.52E-07 59 47
5.56E-08 1.55E-07 36
The n-butanol uptake method was used to determine the porosity of the membrane. The porosity
can be used to explain the electrolyte uptake of the nanofiber membrane (Mahant 2015). The
data is obtained by immersing the doped polymer nanofiber with the liquid electrolyte. The
electrolyte was prepared by mixing the salt, NaSO4 with its carbonates EC and PC in a 1:2 ratio.

As the concentration of CaO (0%, 2.5%, 5%, and 7.5%) increases the liquid electrolyte uptake
decreases. The liquid electrolyte uptake must have been hindered by the gelation of the PVDF
membrane.

Table 2. Liquid Electrolyte Uptake

Average Liquid Electrolyte Uptake
Without CaO 230.3169
With 2.5% CaO 118.1615
With 5% CaO 109.4111
With 7.5% CaO 72.2488