The design of safe and high-performance, nanostructured, block polymer (BP) electrolytes for lithium-ion batteries requires a thorough understanding of the key parameters that govern local structure and dynamics. Yet, the interfaces between microphase-separated domains can introduce complexities in this local behavior that can be challenging to quantify. Herein, the local polymer, cation (Li+), and anion dynamics were described in salt-doped polystyrene-block-poly(oligo-oxyethylene methyl ether methacrylate) (PS-b-POEM) through a quantitative framework that considered the effects of polymer architecture, segmental mixing, chain stretching, and confinement on polymer mobility and ion transport. This framework was validated through nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy measurements on solid (dry) polymer electrolyte samples. Notably, a mobility transition temperature (Tmobility) was identified through NMR spectroscopy that captured the local dynamics more accurately than the thermal glass transition temperature. Additionally, the approach quantitatively described the mobility gradient across a domain when segmental mixing effects were combined with chain stretching and confinement information, especially at higher segregation strengths – facilitating the assessment of local ion diffusion and conductivity. Spatially averaged local ion diffusion predictions quantitatively matched NMR-measured ion diffusivities in the BP samples, while spatially summed ionic conductivity predictions across a domain qualitatively captured trends in the measured ionic conductivities.
more »
« less
Role of Intradomain Heterogeneity on Ion and Polymer Dynamics in Block Polymer Electrolytes: Investigating Interfacial Mobility and Ion-Specific Dynamics and Transport
Block polymers show promise as solid-state battery electrolytes due to the optimization of conductive and mechanical properties enabled via tuning of block chemistry and length. We investigate a polystyrene-block-poly(oligo-oxyethylene methacrylate) (PS-b-POEM) electrolyte doped with various lithium salts to investigate the role of molecular structure on ion transport properties and on local ion dynamics and associations. Anion charge becomes more delocalized with increasing size, reducing the coupling between salt ions while increasing coupling between ion and polymer chain motions and creating a more mobile overall environment. We observe support for this ion-polymer coupling via 1H, 7Li and 19F NMR spectroscopy, from which we obtain ion-specific mobility transition temperatures that differ from the polymer glass transition temperature. We also note faster transport and weaker local energetic interactions with anion size using temperature-dependent NMR diffusometry. 1H NMR spectroscopy further elucidates polymer chain dynamics and enables quantification of the temperature-dependent fraction of the conducting block that is immobile near the PS-POEM domain interface. NMR thus represents a species-specific and timescale-specific platform to quantify phase and interface behavior, and to correlate ion-specific transport with polymer chain dynamics.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1810194
- PAR ID:
- 10512892
- Publisher / Repository:
- ACS
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Macromolecules
- Volume:
- 56
- Issue:
- 21
- ISSN:
- 0024-9297
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 8393 to 8403
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Solid-state single-ion conducting polymer electrolytes have drawn considerable interest for secondary lithium batteries due to their potential for high electrochemical stability and safety, but applications are limited by their low ionic conductivities. Specifically, poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) based electrolytes have the highest reported Li + conductivities for these materials; however, their potential is limited due to the ion transport mechanism being coupled to segmental relaxations of the cation solvating polymer chain. To investigate the potential of single-ion conducting polymer electrolytes lacking polar matrices, we synthesized three para -polyphenylene-based, side-chain polymer electrolytes with various pendent anion chemistries (–SO 3 − , –PSI − , and –TFSI − ) with differing binding affinities to Li + . Compared with the previously reported lithium poly(4-styrenesulfonyl(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide) (LiPSTFSI), the side-chain polymers showed at least 3 orders of magnitude higher conductivity with the same –TFSI − anion (6.7 × 10 −6 S cm −1 compared with 1.2 × 10 −10 S cm −1 at 150 °C). We found that the side-chain electrolyte showed a dielectric relaxation dominated transport mechanism through use of dielectric spectroscopy analysis. The conductivity is highly dependent on the charge delocalization and size of the pendent anion, which provides a pathway forward for the engineering of polymeric ion conductors for electrochemical applications.more » « less
-
We use a multiscale simulation strategy to elucidate, at an atomistic level, the mechanisms underlying ion transport in the lamellar phase of polystyrene–polyethylene oxide (PS–PEO) block copolymer (BCP) electrolytes doped with LiPF 6 salts. Explicitly, we compare the results obtained for ion transport in the microphase separated block copolymer melts to those for salt-doped PEO homopolymer melts. In addition, we also present results for dynamics of the ions individually in the PEO and PS domains of the BCP melt, and locally as a function of the distance from the lamellar interfaces. When compared to the PEO homopolymer melt, ions were found to exhibit slower dynamics in both the block copolymer (overall) and in the PEO phase of the BCP melt. Such results are shown to arise from the effects of slower polymer segmental dynamics in the BCP melt and the coordination characteristics of the ions. Polymer backbone-ion residence times analyzed as a function of distance from the interface indicate that ions have a larger residence time near the interface compared to that near the bulk of lamella, and demonstrates the influence of the glassy PS blocks and microphase segregation on the ion transport properties. Ion transport mechanisms in BCP melts reveal that there exist five distinct mechanisms for ion transport along the backbone of the chain and exhibit qualitative differences from the behavior in homopolymer melts. We also present results as a function of salt concentration which show that the mean-squared displacements of the ions decrease with increasing salt concentration, and that the ion residence times near the polymer backbone increase with increasing salt concentration.more » « less
-
The hierarchical structure and dynamics of polymer solutions control the transport of nanoparticles (NPs) through them. Here, we perform multi-particle collision dynamics simulations of solutions of semiflexible polymer chains with tunable persistence length l p to investigate the effect of chain stiffness on NP transport. The NPs exhibit two distinct dynamical regimes – subdiffusion on short time scales and diffusion on long time scales. The long-time NP diffusivities are compared with predictions from the Stokes–Einstein relation (SER), mode-coupling theory (MCT), and a recent polymer coupling theory (PCT). Increasing deviations from the SER as the polymer chains become more rigid ( i.e. as l p increases) indicate that the NP motions become decoupled from the bulk viscosity of the polymer solution. Likewise, polymer stiffness leads to deviations from PCT, which was developed for fully flexible chains. Independent of l p , however, the long-time diffusion behavior is well-described by MCT, particularly at high polymer concentration. We also observed that the short-time subdiffusive dynamics are strongly dependent on polymer flexibility. As l p is increased, the NP dynamics become more subdiffusive and decouple from the dynamics of the polymer chain center-of-mass. We posit that these effects are due to differences in the segmental mobility of the semiflexible chains.more » « less
-
Chain entanglements play a crucial role in polymer crystallization, yet their effects on crystallization remain not fully understood. Freeze-drying is one way to potentially preserve disentangled states of long polymer chains. In fact, it is known that freeze-drying (FD) significantly accelerates the crystallization kinetics of semicrystalline polymers. However, the chain-level structure of the FD polymer chains without a long-range order (glass) has been a debatable matter. In this study, we investigate the effect of freeze-drying on single chain-level structures of 13CH3 enriched poly(L-lactic Acid) and 13CH enriched poly(D-lactic acid) racemate by using 1H-1H spin diffusion via 13C detection solid-state NMR spectroscopy. Spatial distributions of PLLA and PDLA glassy chains in the range of a few Å – 30 nm are evaluated via 1H-1H spin diffusion. This analysis provides core-shell morphology of single chains where the outer shell layers include both PDLA and PLLA mixture and the inner core possess a single component.more » « less
An official website of the United States government

