Poly(Ionic Liquids) Thomas W. Smith, Rochester Institute of Tech, DMR 0938957

1. Poly(Ionic Liquids)Thomas W. Smith, Rochester Institute of Tech, DMR 0938957 It is proposed that the function of lithium ion batteries, fuel cells, supercapacitors, solar cells and actuators might be improved if solvated membranes or conventional ionic liquids were replaced by film-forming ionic liquid polymers. To this end, the room temperature ionic liquid monomer, 1-ethyl-3-methyl-4-vinylimidazolium triflate, was synthesized, polymerized and ion exchanged to create a family of poly(1-ethyl-3-methyl-4-vinylimidazolium) salts, P-4VIm+ ,in which the anion has been varied across a range of anions (i.e., CF3SO3-, (CF3SO3)2N-, (NC)2N-, BF4-, PF6-, and AsF6-). These polymers are new compositions of matter and were not known prior to the inception of this research. • An in depth evaluation of the glass transition and dielectric properties of P-4VIm+ salts, (I) as compared to known poly(1-ethyl-3-vinylimidazolium) analogues (II) has been carried out. The data promises to allow us to better understand how the relative degree of freedom of the imidazolium moiety tethered to the polymer backbone, and, the size and character of the counter-ion influence the Tg, fragility, molecular relaxations, and ion mobility in these “polyionic liquids”. It appears that P-4VIM+ salts are highly fragile glasses, i.e., ion mobility is substantially decoupled from segmental motion of the polymer chain. It has been recently proposed that in polymers with higher fragility, ions can easily move through a non-densely packed polymer glass, even at temperatures substantially below Tg. Our preliminary analysis of impedance in the poly(1-ethyl-3-vinylimidazolium) salt family appears to support this hypothesis. (I) (II) vs

2. Poly(Ionic Liquids)Thomas W. Smith, Rochester Institute of Tech, DMR 0938957 The poly(ionic liquids) project is the basis for the thesis research of three M.S. Chemistry students and one Microsystems Engineering Ph.D. student at RIT. Research experiences have also been provided to two RIT undergraduate students. In collaboration with Peggy Cebe at Tufts University, research experiences, characterizing the crystal habit of PVF2 in composites with ionic liquid polymers, are being provided to deaf and hard-of-hearing students. A paper on this research [PMSE Preprints2010,103(2), 97] was presentation at the ACS National Meeting in Boston. This collaboration has continued and in the summer of 2011. Tina Lavato, RIT-NTID (middle) and Peggy Cebe (right) at the 240th ACS National Meeting, Boston 2010