Charge transport of nano-confined ionic liquids in ion gels

Ionic liquids (ILs) have attracted significant interest due to their unique properties including high thermal stability, negligible vapor pressure, and high ionic conductivity and specific capacitance. To enhance the practicality of employing ILs in different applications, it is important to blend them with structuring polymers to form physically or chemically crosslinked networks, known as ion gels. Using block copolymers as polymer matrix provides the opportunities to control the gel nanostructure (lamellar, hexagonal, cubic, and gyroid) and physical properties through variation of the copolymer block lengths, architecture, or chemistry. In this study, nanostructured ion gels are prepared through polymerization of lyotropic liquid crystals (LLCs) made of monomers (styrene and divinylbenzene), ionic liquid ([EMIM][BF₄]), and amphiphilic block copolymers. We investigate the molecular dynamics of nano-confined ionic liquids in these ion gels by broadband dielectric spectroscopy.