Towards green energy: Choice of Tamarind Gum as an ecofriendly biopolymer electrolyte material

The need for the preparation of eco-friendly and sustainable materials to be used as alternative sources for energy devices gained momentum in the mid-20th century. Several strategies and techniques have been deployed in the recent times to prepare and characterize biopolymer matrices for proton and ion conduction. Research studies conducted on properties of electrolytes were crucial in developing energy storage systems, such as batteries and supercapacitors. Research is progressing in order to develop new kinds and varieties of battery materials that are specifically designed to meet the demand for energy storage devices that are sustainable. Amongst the various types of electrolytes explored, polymer electrolytes are gaining significant attention to be used as better replacements for liquid electrolytes in Li-ion batteries, offering safety, flexibility and higher energy densities. Novel polymer electrolyte systems are being developed in order to achieve enhanced ionic conductivities, retaining few desirable properties. Synthetic polymer electrolytes (SPEs) mainly cause harm to the environmental pollution due to their toxic effect and non-biodegradable nature. Thus, research studies explored the possibility of usage of natural polymers as better substitute to synthetic polymers, while retaining the efficiency. Research studies on one such biopolymer, Tamarind Seed Polysaccharide are discussed in this paper, thereby proposing an eco-friendly and cost-effective biopolymer electrolyte, that can be used for the energy storage device application.