The ion transport properties of ionomers
comprised of polydimethylsiloxanes
with amidinium or imidazolinium attached side chains and alkyldithiocarbamate
anions (where alkyl is hexyl or octadecyl) have been investigated
in chloroform solutions principally and as neat liquids. The influence
of modifying the molecular weights of the polydimethylsiloxanes, the
frequency of their amidininium or imidazolinium side groups, and temperature
on the conductivity have been explored. When a solvent more polar
than chloroform, syn-tetrachloroethane, was employed,
a large increase in the ionic conductivity was found despite there
being an increase in the viscosity of the solution. At least in these
two solvents, polarity is more important in determining the conductivity
than the viscosity. When normalized for ion content, Walden plots
of the ionomer solutions at different ionomer concentrations approached
values found for 1 M aqueous KCl. As neat liquids, the amidinium and
imidazolinium hexyldithiocarbamate ionomers exceeded the values associated
with the “superionic” region of the Walden plot (i.e.,
above the conductivity values for 1 M aqueous KCl). As ion content
and polymer molecular weight increased, larger decoupling between
bulk viscosity and ionic conductivity was noted, probably as a result
of changes in the dynamic fragility of the ionomers.