Chaotic behavior of ion exchange phenomena in polymer gel electrolytes through irradiated polymeric membrane

Abstract

A desktop experiment has been done to show the nonlinearity in the I-V characteristics of an ion conducting electrochemical micro-system. Its chaotic dynamics is being reported for the first time which has been captured by an electronic circuit. Polyvinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropene (PVdF-HFP) gel electrolyte comprising of a combination of plasticizers (ethylene carbonate and propylene carbonate) and salts have been prepared to study the exchange of ions through porous poly ethylene terephthalate (PET) membranes. The nonlinearity of this system is due to the ion exchange of the polymer gel electrolytes (PGEs) through a porous membrane. The different regimes of spiking and non-spiking chaotic motions are being presented. The possible applications are highlighted.