ORGINAL PAPER Polyacrylamide-methanesulfonic acid gel polymer electrolytes for tin-air battery S. Sumathi • V. Sethuprakash • W. J. Basirun • I. Zainol • M. Sookhakian Received: 8 November 2013 / Accepted: 13 December 2013 / Published online: 24 December 2013 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013 Abstract The present work describes the synthesis and characterization of gel polymer electrolytes containing methanesulfonic acid (MSA) with Polyacrylamide (PAAm). The PAAm–MSA gel electrolytes were prepared with different concentrations of MSA. Addition of 0.5 M of MSA into the electrolyte increased the ionic conduc- tivity of PAAm from 1.35 9 10 -3 to 1.56 9 10 -2 S cm -1 . The maximum ionic conductivity of 7.0 9 10 -1 S cm -1 was obtained with 3 M MSA at room temperature. The chemical interaction between PAAm and MSA was studied by Fourier transformed infra-red. The performance as a polymer electrolyte was evaluated from the cell discharge and open circuit potential measurements of a tin-air cell. The tin-air cell supported relatively high current, up to 12 mA cm -2 with a maximum power density of 5 mW cm -2 . The open-circuit potential of the cell was 1.27 V for 24 h. Keywords Methane sulfonic acid  Polyacrylamide  Tin-air battery 1 Introduction Alkaline based gel polymer electrolytes has been studied by many researchers for Zn-air battery [1, 2], nickel metal hydride [3] and direct borohydride fuel cell systems [4]. On the other hand, chemical interaction between basic polymers and strong acids or polymeric acid has attracted many researchers to enhance the ionic conduc- tivity of polymer electrolytes. Many researchers have shown that the acid doped polymers gave conductivities of \ 10 -3 S cm -1 at room temperature [5–8]. Phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid, acetic acid, salicylic acid and oleic acid are some of the acids which have been used in the polymer electrolyte mixtures. The most important char- acteristic is the dissociation of the acid where the proton is transferred from the acid group to the basic groups in the polymers. Methane sulfonic acid (MSA) is a non- halogenated sulfonic acid which is slightly less acidic and its interesting characteristics as will be investigated in this study. Methane sulfonic acid (MSA) has gained some com- mercial acceptance since the early 1980s and has been used as an electrolyte in the electroplating of tin [9], lead and tin–lead alloy [10]. The conductivity of 1.0 M MSA aqueous solution is 0.30 S cm -1 , which is comparable to hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid (0.35 and 0.44 S cm -1 respectively), while posing a lower risk of corrosion compared to other mineral acids [11]. Moreover, MSA has good thermal stability, water miscibility and low toxicity. Studies on zinc-vanadium redox flow battery have proven the importance of MSA as an electrolyte medium [11]. Acidity studies of the sulfonic acid group in hydrocarbon polymers show that MSA is a super strong acid which is a suitable polymer electrolyte with a Gibbs free energy(DG) of dissociation of 1,317 kJ mol -1 [6]. S. Sumathi (&)  V. Sethuprakash  I. Zainol Department of Chemistry, Sultan Idris Education University, 35900 Tanjong Malim, Perak, Malaysia e-mail: sumathi2311@gmail.com W. J. Basirun Department of Chemistry, University Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia W. J. Basirun Institute of Nanotechnology and Catalysis (NanoCat), University Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia M. Sookhakian Department of Physics, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 123 J Sol-Gel Sci Technol (2014) 69:480–487 DOI 10.1007/s10971-013-3247-7