ORIGINAL PAPER Development and investigation on PMMA–PVC blend-based solid polymer electrolytes with LiTFSI as dopant salt S. Ramesh • Chiam-Wen Liew Received: 4 July 2012 / Revised: 4 September 2012 / Accepted: 8 September 2012 / Published online: 18 September 2012 Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012 Abstract PMMA–PVC polymer blend systems with LiTFSI as dopant salt were prepared by solution casting technique. Studies were then performed to explore the ionic conductivity, crystallographic structure, morphology, and thermal properties of these polymer electrolytes. XRD and SEM reveal amorphous behavior and morphologies of polymer electrolytes, respectively. Coherent length was calculated to determine the amorphousity of polymer complexes. Ionic conductivity was cal- culated using ac-impedance spectroscopy. DSC measurements revealed a decrease in T g , whereas T m and T d were enhanced. The thermal properties of polymer electrolytes were found to enhance upon addition of 30 wt% LiTFSI. Increase in thermal stability of polymer electrolytes were further confirmed through TGA studies. Keywords Polymers  Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)  Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)  X-ray diffraction  Electrical conductivity Introduction Intense development in the field of polymer electrolytes has been the major concern for creating an alternative solid-state energy source due to the inherent advantages of these polymer electrolytes. These features include elimination of corrosive solvent and harmful gas, easy processability, suppression of lithium dendrite growth, shape configuration due to flexibility, high automated process as well as light weight [1, 2]. In general, solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) can be widely used in various devices such as electrochromic devices, chemical sensors, solid-state S. Ramesh (&)  C.-W. Liew Centre for Ionics University Malaya, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia e-mail: rameshtsubra@gmail.com 123 Polym. Bull. (2013) 70:1277–1288 DOI 10.1007/s00289-012-0851-6