Multiferroic oxide-based nanocomposite polymer electrolytes are a type of material that can be used in electrochemical devices such as batteries and fuel cells. These materials combine the properties of ferroelectric and ferromagnetic oxides with those of polymer electrolytes to create a new class of advanced materials with unique properties.
The scientific and technological developments in the field of materials science and engineering
have taken multiple strides in the social growth of the mankind in the past century. It is
the result of these advancement that in the world of today, materials extensively
dominate several sector like structural engineering, transportation engineering,
aerospace engineering communication engineering, health and biomedical engineering.
In this growth Ionic materials in the last 5-6 decades have added a new dimension .These
materials have opened up, a thrust area of research in the field of materials science, termed as
Solid State Ionics.
The research in the field of Solid State Ionics encompasses investigation of physical and chemical
behaviour of the solids with the fast ion moment within the bulk as well as their
technological aspects. The ionic conductivity of these solid is exceptionally high
and comparable to that of liquid/aqueous electrolytes. Such materials, widely referred as
'Super Ionic Solids' or Solid Electrolyte or fast ion conductors show tremendous
scope to develop all solid state min/micro electrochemical devices viz. Batteries,
fuel cells, supercapacitors, electrochemical displays, sensors, photo electrochemical solar
cells etc..Within the frame work of super Ionic Solids, Polymer Electrolyte have added new
dimension to its growth. These polymer materials in the world of today have replaced the
bulky liquid electrolytes with its distinct properties and in the process the growth of Science
and Technology by leap and bounds.
Polymers have mainly been developed for their structure and insulating properties. The possibility
of inducing electronic or ionic conductivity as an intrinsic feature of macromolecular materials
has only recently been appreciated [7]. Due to their high molecular weight, they exhibit
macroscopic properties that have attributes of true solid. At the same time in the
atomic level local relaxation provides liquid like degree of freedom which is not
significantly different from those of the conventional liquid. In addition of this, since the
polymers are not brittle, they are able to form good interfacial with electrode materials.
These favourable properties allowed researchers to develop polymer electrolyte
materials for electrochemical
applications.