An attempt has been made to understand the mechanism of ionic
conductivity in
polyphosphazene−salt complexes by the synthesis and study of systems
with crown ether side groups
and salts with different cations. Amorphous phosphazene polymers,
bearing either (12-crown-4)-methoxy,
(15-crown-5)-methoxy, or (18-crown-6)-methoxy pendent groups, either as
single-substituent polymers
or mixed-substituent species in a 1:3 ratio with
2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxy groups, were synthesized
and characterized. The polymers in which all the side groups are
crown ether units have glass transition
temperatures higher than other oligo(ethyleneoxy)
polyphosphazenes. They generate relatively low ionic
conductivities at ambient temperatures when complexed with lithium
triflate or lithium perchlorate.
This suggests that the cation carries a significant part of the
current in ether-type polymers. The ambient
temperature ionic conductivity of the cosubstituent polyphosphazenes,
as well as of poly[bis(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxy)phosphazene] (MEEP) (3), when
complexed with MClO4 (M = Li, Na, K, Rb,
Cs),
was measured. The ionic conductivity is reduced when a favorable
1:1 or 2:1 crown ether−cation complex
is formed. The thermal behavior of these polymer−salt complexes
was also investigated. The polymers
exhibit an increased glass transition temperature when a favorable 2:1
crown ether−cation complex is
formed. The relationships between the ionic conductivity and the
glass transition temperature of the
host polymer electrolytes and the stability of the crown ether−cation
complexes formed are discussed.