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Structure and Ionic Conductivity of Polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene oxide) Electrolytes in the High Salt Concentration Limit

Journal Article · · Macromolecules
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [2];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [8]
  1. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Materials Sciences Division
  2. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
  3. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering; Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
  4. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR)
  5. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Materials Sciences Division
  6. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Materials Sciences Division
  7. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Environmental Energy Technologies Division
  8. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Environmental Energy Technologies Division; Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

We explore the relationship between the morphology and ionic conductivity of block copolymer electrolytes over a wide range of salt concentrations for the system polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene oxide) (PS-b-PEO, SEO) mixed with lithium bis-(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide salt (LiTFSI). Two SEO polymers were studied, SEO(16-16) and SEO(4.9-5.5), over the salt concentration range r = 0.03-0.55. The numbers x and y in SEO(x-y) are the molecular weights of the blocks in kg mol-1, and the r value is the molar ratio of salt to ethylene oxide moieties. Small-angle X-ray scattering was used to characterize morphology and grain size at 120 °C, differential scanning calorimetry was used to study the crystallinity and the glass transition temperature of the PEO-rich microphase, and ac impedance spectroscopy was used to measure ionic conductivity as a function of temperature. The most surprising observation of our study is that ionic conductivity in the concentration regime 0.11 ≤ r ≤ 0.21 increases in SEO electrolytes but decreases in PEO electrolytes. The maximum in ionic conductivity with salt concentration occurs at about twice the salt concentration in SEO (r = 0.21) as in PEO (r = 0.11). Here, we propose that these observations are due to the effect of salt concentration on the grain structure in SEO electrolytes.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1474926
Journal Information:
Macromolecules, Journal Name: Macromolecules Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 49; ISSN 0024-9297
Publisher:
American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Crosslinked Poly(tetrahydrofuran) as a Loosely Coordinating Polymer Electrolyte journal July 2018
High-Capacity All-Solid-State Sodium Metal Battery with Hybrid Polymer Electrolytes journal August 2018
Self‐Standing Highly Conductive Solid Electrolytes Based on Block Copolymers for Rechargeable All‐Solid‐State Lithium‐Metal Batteries journal August 2018
Hybrid Solid Polymer Electrolytes with Two‐Dimensional Inorganic Nanofillers journal June 2018
Recent progress in block copolymer crystallization journal December 2018
Ion diffusion across a disorder-to-order phase transition in a poly(ethylene oxide)- b -poly(silsesquioxane) block copolymer electrolyte journal January 2019
Charging toward improved lithium-ion polymer electrolytes: exploiting synergistic experimental and computational approaches to facilitate materials design journal January 2019
Reentrant phase behavior and coexistence in asymmetric block copolymer electrolytes journal January 2018
Self-healing and shape-memory solid polymer electrolytes with high mechanical strength facilitated by a poly(vinyl alcohol) matrix journal January 2019
Ion Correlation Effects in Salt-Doped Block Copolymers journal March 2018
Interrogation of Electrochemical Properties of Polymer Electrolyte Thin Films with Interdigitated Electrodes journal January 2018
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