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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. 

We report the results of atomistic molecular dynamics simulations on polymerized 1-butyl-3-vinylimidazolium-hexafluorophosphate ionic liquids, studying the influence of the polymer molecular weight on the ion mobilities and the mechanisms underlying ion transport, including ion-association dynamics, ion hopping, and ion–polymer coordinations. With an increase in polymer molecular weight, the diffusivity of the hexafluorophosphate (PF 6 − ) counterion decreases and plateaus above seven repeat units. The diffusivity is seen to correlate well with the ion-association structural relaxation time for pure ionic liquids, but becomes more correlated with ion-association lifetimes for larger molecular weight polymers. By analyzing the diffusivity of ions based on coordination structure, we unearth a transport mechanism in which the PF 6 − moves by “climbing the ladder” while associated with four polymeric cations from two different polymers. 

We used atomistic molecular dynamics simulations to study the properties of polymerized 1‐alkene‐3‐butylimidazolium‐hexafluorophosphate, a polymerized ionic liquid electrolyte, and characterized the influence of the linear alkene length on the mobility of the hexafluorophosphate ions. Consistent with experimental observations, our simulations indicate that as the alkene length increases, the diffusivity of hexafluorophosphate anion monotonically increases. We demonstrate that such a trend arises from the influence of linker segments on the intermolecular ion hopping rates, which is in turn modulated by intermolecular cationic separation distances. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys.2017,55, 1718–1723