Thermoplastic Starch Plasticized by Glycerol as Solid Polymer Electrolytes

Abstract Summary: Melt extrusion can be used to prepared GPTPS mixed with alkali metal chlorides (LiCl, NaCl and KCl) as a potential solid polymer electrolytes. SEM reveals that excess salt results in the congregation of salt crystals, which affects the mechanical properties and conductivities of GPTPS. FT‐IR spectroscopy shows that alkali metal ions can interact with starch, which restrains starch recrystallization, as proved by XRD. The introduction of salts improves the elongation at break, but reduces the tensile stress of GPTPS. Both salt content and water content have an effect on the conductance of GPTPS. The introduction of salts increases the conductance by a factor of 1–2, while the conductance increases about 5 orders of magnitude as the water content increases from 0.05 to 0.55 wt.‐%. The relationship of conductance versus water content can be well described by a second‐order polynomial, with R 2 > 0.96. The type of salt has no obvious effect on the correlation between the conductance and water contents. SEM micrographs of native starch granules and fractured surfaces of GPTPS filled with different types and amounts of alkali metal chlorides per 100 g starch. magnified image SEM micrographs of native starch granules and fractured surfaces of GPTPS filled with different types and amounts of alkali metal chlorides per 100 g starch.