Structure and Conductive Behavior in Poly(Ionic Liquid) Hybrid Materials

The interfacial resistance to ion transport between the filler and polymer generally limits the conductivity in polymer nanocomposites. This is attributed to the poor physical contact and to the formation of a space charge layer. We aim to overcome this limitation by designing hybrid electrolytes based on single-ion conducting polymers grafted on nanoparticles. I will present the structures of poly(ionic liquid)-grafted iron oxide nanoparticles (PILgNPs) and discuss how chain length and assembled structures are used to explain ion conductivity compared to that of particle-free poly(ionic liquid) (PIL) homopolymer. In addition, I will present the new poly(ionic liquid)-b-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PIL-b-PMMA) copolymer-grafted nanoparticles. Our results indicate that the copolymer hybrid design achieves significantly higher molar conductivity than PILgNPs. Moreover, as the length of PIL block increases, the conductivity improves accordingly. The PIL block length, diblock sequence and the ionic liquid addition into copolymer morphologies change the net repulsion between nanoparticles causing pathways of different thicknesses and morphologies for ionic conduction. The effect of polarizability of chains in different copolymer sequences with the application of electric fields will be presented.