Conductivity and DSC studies of poly(ethylene glycol) and its salt complexes

Abstract

The temperature response of conductivity of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and its salt complexes like KCl, KBr and KI has been studied in the temperature range 299 to 331 K. Doping of PEG with KCl and KBr increased the conductivity by about 2.5 times for KCl and about 6.25 times for KBr, while doping with KI reduced the conductivity to about 0.05 times its pure component value. This may be due to the presence of dissolved salt in the solid, or alternatively may be due to the changes in the structure of PEG induced by the presence of salt. DSC studies on the samples were carried out wherein a beautiful peak was observed near the melting point. Analysis of DSC results confirms that the reaction is endothermic and the peak shifts towards higher value for different salts as compared to pure PEG.