Solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) offer a route to safer and potentially more efficient lithium-ion batteries by eliminating the use of flammable electrolyte supports. However, current SPEs are limited by the fact that their lithium-ion conductivity is tied the local segmental dynamics of the polymer backbone and that many do little to prevent the dendritic growth that can cause short-circuits and fires in lithium ion and lithium metal batteries. Polymers with a bulky, sterically hindered backbone and an ion-conductive tail may offer a solution to the first issue, by working to decouple ionic conductivity from local segmental dynamics. The addition of a high-modulus block to this polymer generates nanomorphologies leading to conductive ion “paths” and structural regions to prevent lithium dendrites from growing. Consequentially, the nanomorphologies of dicarboximide functionalized oxanorbornyl diblock copolymers synthesized via ring opening metathesis polymerization were investigated through the use of atomic force microscopy and thermal annealing to determine the phase diagram of this diblock system.

Investigation of thermally induced microphase separation in dicarboximide functionalized oxanorbornyl diblock copolymers by atomic force microscopy

249th National Meeting (2015)

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