PVA-based polymer electrolytes were prepared with various concentrations of CdCl2 using solvent casting method. Prepared polymer films were investigated using line profile analysis employing X-ray diffraction (XRD) data. XRD results show that the crystallite size decreases and then increases with increase in CdCl2. AC conductivity in these polymer increases films first and then decreases. These observations are in agreement with XRD results. The highest ionic conductivity of 1.68E ？ 08？Scm？1 was observed in 4% of CdCl2 in PVA polymer blend. Crystallite ellipsoids for different concentrations of CdCl2 are computed here using whole pattern powder fitting (WPPF) indicating that crystallite area decreases with increase in the ionic conductivity. 1. Introduction There is a continued interest in conducting polymers due to their properties like easy fabrication, low cost, leak proof, biodegradability, and good storage capacity. Conducting polymers find application in the development of advanced high energy electrochemical devices for example, batteries, fuel cells, electrochemical display devices, and photoelectrochemical cells. The development of conducting polymers involves several approaches: (i) dry solid state polymers, (ii) gel/plasticizer polymer, and (iii) composite polymer. Many lithium-based polymer electrosystems have been investigated earlier [1]. In our study we have chosen poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) as a host polymer doped with cadmium chloride (CdCl2) for preparing polymer electrolytes. PVA is a water soluble polymer and has several interesting physical properties. PVA is having a good charge storage capacity and dopant-dependent electrical and optical properties [2, 3]. PVA is a semicrystalline polymer. Cadmium chloride is a white crystalline compound. It is a hygroscopic solid that is soluble in water. Cadmium chloride is also used for photocopying, dyeing, and electroplating. The present study focused on the AC electrical conductivity of PVA doped with CdCl2 blends which will be an interesting study for being used as a final product in some technical applications like electrochemical applications, fuel cells, batteries, electrochemical display devices, and photo electrochemical cells. The present study is also concerned with the correlation between crystallite ellipsoids and conductivity in CdCl2-based polymer films. An explanation in terms of C–O and C–H bond stretching using FTIR data has been made in this paper. FTIR spectra are useful in identifying the change in functional groups due to the presence of cadmium ions. Cadmium ions have a
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