Solid polymer Poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) blend with Gadolinium Fluoride (GdF3) films were prepared by means of solution-cast procedure. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and optical absorption techniques were carried out on this PVA-GdF3 complexed system for characterization of complex formation and to evaluate optical band gap. Glass transition temperature (Tg) of PVA was found to be 88 °C. Addition of GdF3 to PVA showed an increase in Tg. A comparison of FTIR spectra of pure PVA with PVA complexed films showed several changes in band position along with disappearance of some bands and appearance of new bands. Band position changes at -OH group were dramatic, which indicated the interaction of Gd+3 with OH of PVA polymer in complexed films. Optical properties such as cut-off wavelength (lc) and optical band gap (Eopt) were determined for PVA-GdF3 polymer complexed films with the help of optical absorption spectra. The DC electrical conductivity of PVA was found to be 10–10, and this value increased to 10–6 by the addition of GdF3.

In recent years, solid electrolyte materials have attracted much attention because of their potential application at ambient temperature in electrochemical devices, such as secondary batteries, display devices, and fuel cells (Vashishta et al., 1979; MacCallum and Vincent, 1987; Ratner and Shriver, 1988; and Scrosati, 1993). Ion conduction is an important phenomenon in developing these materials. The particular advantages of solid polymer electrolytes over other solid electrolytes are: unique mechanical and electrical properties, ease of fabrication into films of desirable sizes and electrode-electrolyte contact. Extensive work has been carried out on solid polymer electrolytes based on Poly(ethylene Oxide) (PEO) (Reitman et al., 1985; Patrik et al., 1986; Tunstall et al., 1988; Croce et al., 1995; Morales and Acosta, 1997; Philias and Marsan, 1999; Chu et al., 2000; Kumar and Scanlon, 2000; Leo et al., 2002; Reddy and Chu, 2002; and Chu et al., 2003). Polymers such as poly(acrylonitrile) (PAN), Poly(methyl Methacrylate) (PMMA) and Poly(vinylidene Fluoride) (PVDF) have been investigated as gel-type polymer electrolytes in energy-storage devices (Hong et al., 1992; Bohke et al., 1993; Peramunage et al., 1995; Boudin et al., 1999; Saito et al., 2001 and 2002). PVDF-based polymer electrolytes have been explored by blending with PMMA, and Poly(vinyl Alcohol-co-vinyl Acetate) (PVAAc) (Bauduin et al., 1999; Moussaif and Jerome, 1999; Jin et al., 2002; and Rajendran et al., 2002).

Some of the reports of ion conducting films appeared in literature based on PVA, PVC, PMMA and their blends (Uma et al., 2004; Achari et al., 2007; and Bhargav et al., 2007). When the ionic salts are added to polymers, the physical properties of polymers are largely affected by the molecular arrangement and chemical dynamics of their chains. An understanding of the interplay between molecular structure and the ion transport is critical to the development of new solid polymer electrolyte materials. The study investigates the PVA-Gadolinium Fluoride (GdF3) solid polymer electrolyte films. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Infrared (IR) spectroscopy and optical absorption were used to characterize this PVA complexed GdF3 films. The composition dependence conductivity has been employed to study ion transport in this polymer-ion complexed system.

Physics Journal, Electrical Transport Properties, Transmission Electron Microscopy, Magnetotransport Data, Antiferromagnetic Semiconductors, Chemical Precipitation Method, Nanocrystalline Manganites, Perovskite Structure, Citrate-gel Method, Polycrystalline Perovskite Material, Debye Scherrer Formula.