Understanding the ionic activity and conductivity value differences between random copolymer electrolytes and block copolymer electrolytes of the same chemistry

Abstract

Random copolymer electrolytes have better permselectivity but lower ionic conductivity than block copolymer electrolytes of the same repeat unit chemistry.

Mechanochemical ring-opening metathesis polymerization: development, scope, and mechano-exclusive polymer synthesis

“…Copolymers composed of neutral and ionic monomers are found in many applications. 19 However, the orthogonal solubility of monomers leads to a lack of common solvents, which has challenged their polymerization in a one-pot process. Related polymers have been prepared using multi-step polymerizations or post-polymerization modifications.…”

Manning condensation in ion exchange membranes: A review on ion partitioning and diffusion models

“…22 The Arges group studied ion partitioning into block copolymer electrolyte (BCE) phase-separated membranes, which are of interest because of their enhanced performance: the phase separation in block copolymer structures yields restricted swelling and improved mechanical properties. 91,92 The domain-based structure of these BCEs complicated predicting the electrolyte partitioning behavior. In a pair of manuscripts, Lei et al 92 prepared a poly(styrene-block-vinyl pyridinium) BCE while Ramos-Garcés et al 91 prepared the same system as a random copolymer to study the effect of macromolecular architecture on membrane transport properties.…”

“…91,92 The domain-based structure of these BCEs complicated predicting the electrolyte partitioning behavior. In a pair of manuscripts, Lei et al 92 prepared a poly(styrene-block-vinyl pyridinium) BCE while Ramos-Garcés et al 91 prepared the same system as a random copolymer to study the effect of macromolecular architecture on membrane transport properties. Specifically, the authors performed potassium iodide (KI) partitioning experiments with external solutions ranging from 0.01 to 1 M. Because the structure of the BCE was known, the authors predicted b based only on the charged half of the BCE structure.…”

“…The Arges group studied ion partitioning into block copolymer electrolyte (BCE) phase‐separated membranes, which are of interest because of their enhanced performance: the phase separation in block copolymer structures yields restricted swelling and improved mechanical properties 91,92 . The domain‐based structure of these BCEs complicated predicting the electrolyte partitioning behavior.…”

Ion transport on self-assembled block copolymer electrolytes with different side chain chemistries

“…Finally, non-equilibrium simulations in the presence of an electric field were carried out to determine the ionic conductivities. 24,28 The simulation setup is discussed in detail in the Supporting Information.…”