Polyethylene oxide (PEO) complexed with potassium iodide (KI) is synthesized to investigate the ionic conductivity of alkaline based polymer electrolytes. The structural and morphological characterizations of the nanocomposite polymer electrolytes are performed by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) measurements. The ionic conductivity increases with the increase of KI concentration up to about 20 wt.%. The effect of nanosized ceria (CeO2 similar to 10 nm) fillers on ionic conductivity in PEO-KI polymer electrolyte is also carried out, keeping PEO to KI wt.% ratio 80:20 and 85:15. The result reveals that the addition of ceria nanoparticles enhances the conductivity by two orders of magnitude. The presence of ceria at the highest concentration induces the same molecular environment within PEO chain as that of undoped PEO. Temperature dependence of ionic conductivity follows Arrhenius mechanism. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.