Synthesis and Characterization of Cellulose Acetate Membrane from Corn (<i>Zea mays</i>) Husk as Lithium-Ion Battery Electrolyte Membrane

Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have gained popularity and the attention of numerous researchers in recent times because of their benefits. The separator membrane is one of the most important parts of the LIB. Separator membranes are made of polymeric materials, one of which is cellulose acetate (CA). In this study, we synthesize CA from corn husk. There are 2 methodological ways in this study, namely the synthesis of CA which consists of delignification and acetylation, and fabrication of PVDF/ CA/ Nanoclay electrolyte membrane with variation of CA PVDF (0%:100, 10%: 90%, 20%: 80%, 30%: 70%, 50%: 50%). The synthesis of CA from corn husk exhibits XRD results which were comparable to the peak of commercial CA. Meanwhile, the PVDF/ CA-Nanoclay-based separator membrane with the composition of 50% PVDF and 50% CA had the best characterization results with an electrolyte uptake value of 139.649% and a porosity value of 79.11%. Based on the attained results, the CA extracted from corn husk in this study is applicable to use for the fabrication of electrolyte membrane.