  The effective quasistatic conductivity of composite polymeric electrolytes is
studied in terms of a hard-core--penetrable-layer model. Used to incorporate
the interface phenomena (such as amorphization of the polymer matrix around
filler particles, stiffening effect by those on the amorphous phase,
irregularities of the filler grains' surfaces, etc.), the layers are assumed to
be electrically inhomogeneous, consisting of a finite or infinite number of
concentric uniform shells. The rules of dominance, imposed on the overlapping
regions, are equivalent to the requirement that the local electric properties
in the system be determined by the distance from the point of interest to the
nearest particle's center. The desired conductivity is calculated using our
original many-particle (compact-group) approach which, however, avoids an
in-depth elaboration of polarization and correlation processes. The result is
expressed through the electrical and geometrical parameters of the
constituents. Contrasting it with experiment reveals that the theory adequately
describes the effective conductivity as a function of the filler concentration
and temperature for a number of polymeric composites based on poly(ethylene
oxide) or oxymethylene-linked poly(ethylene oxide) and is more flexible in
comparison with other theories.
