Competency of Sri Lankan natural rubber for electrolytes in energy storage devices

Research at a glance

Natural rubber which is obtained from latex of rubber tree is widely known as an insulator and an elastomer. But, now it has been found out that it is a viable substitute for commercial polymers and as such, it can be employed for preparation of electrolytes. This paper is about an investigation carried out to prepare an electrolyte with Sri Lankan natural rubber (NR) and the salt, ammonium trifluoromethanesulfionate (NH4(CF3SO3)). The electrolyte showed an ionic conductivity of 3.8 x 10-4 S cm-1 at room temperature which is of utmost importance to be considered for applications. A super capacitor was fabricated using two conducting polymer electrodes. A single electrode specific capacitance value of 20.13 F g-1 was obtained upon analyzing the impedance data. At low frequencies, capacitive features were dominant well matching with theoretical explanations. The results are very encouraging and can be used to make the way for a conceptual revolution for natural rubber in the arena of power and energy challenging the traditional views.