Berlin 2024 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help

CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 17: Charged Soft Matter, Polyelectrolytes and Ionic Liquids I

CPP 17.6: Talk

Tuesday, March 19, 2024, 11:00–11:15, H 0107

Constrained Ion Conductivity in Isolated Polymer Aggregates — •Alaa Youssef Amin Hassan and Martin Tress — Peter Debye Institute, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany

Technological progress and environmental concerns propel the popularity of portable electronics and electric vehicles, which demand robust and lightweight energy storage solutions. While polymeric electrolytes are attractive materials for that, a low ionic conductivity and high contact resistance limit their potential. To overcome this, a design based on a comprehensive understanding of structure-property relationships at the molecular level is required, which can be gained through nanoscale and finite-size investigations. We present a novel setup based on broadband dielectric spectroscopy with nanostructured electrodes combined with physicochemical surface modification methods to study the ion conductivity of polymer aggregates containing ∼900 to 14 polyethylene oxide chains chemically attached to separated binding sites on a surface. Significant deviations from bulk conductivity indicate that ions engage in (slower) motion along the chains instead of (faster) inter-chain hopping, which dominates in bulk. This may be a general phenomenon of polymeric ion conductors at interfaces, which would reduce their performance through a significant increase in interfacial resistance and electrode polarization. The results suggest bottle-brush architectures can reduce this effect, making them promising candidates for enhanced polymeric electrolytes for better solid-state electrolyte batteries and ion-conducting fuel cell membranes and possibly even improve permeation in polymeric membranes.

Keywords: PEO; Grafting; Dielectric; Conductivity; Confinement