Study of pectin-based biopolymer electrolytes with magnesium triflate (MgTf₂) for applications in magnesium batteries

These days, biopolymers are utilized significantly more often than other synthetic polymers because of the benefits they offer, which include non-toxicity, biodegradability, and renewability. The primary objective of the current work is to fabricate pectin-based biopolymer electrolytes containing magnesium triflate salt (MgTf₂) for use in electrochemical devices. Biopolymer electrolytes of pectin with MgTf₂ were synthesized by solution-casting method and are analyzed by XRD, DSC, TGA, SEM, AC impedance, FTIR, LSV, and CV techniques. The ionic conductivities of the samples were determined by AC impedance analysis, and the highest conductivity has been obtained as 4.511 × 10⁻³ S cm⁻¹ for 50 M wt% pectin: 50 M wt% MgTf₂. The total ionic transference number and Mg²⁺ transference number were found to be 0.99 and 0.315, respectively, for the highest-conducting sample. The electrochemical stability of 2.3 V has been obtained by linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) analysis for the highest-conducting electrolyte. A primary magnesium battery has been constructed with the highest conducting sample, and the open circuit voltage of the battery is 2.05 V.