Lithium-ion batteries could potentially be made to be safer by eliminating the use of flammable electrolyte solvents, which could be achieved by the development of solid polymer electrolytes. A series of novel oligo(ethylene oxide) grafted dicarboximide functionalized oxanorbornyl diblock copolymer electrolyte supports were synthesized via ring opening metathesis polymerization. Products obtained were monodisperse, with a variety of ethylene oxide sidechain lengths (n=2, 3, 8) and compositions. The nanomorphologies of solvent vapor annealed samples were investigated through the use of atomic force microscopy to determine the phase diagram of the diblock system for each sidechain length and to determine the impact of oligo(ethylene oxide) sidechain length on the phase behavior. It was found that the phase diagrams of the n=2 diblock system appears to deviate from a standard diblock theoretical phase diagram in that it seems to have a much larger gyroidal region and it is shifted toward the ethylene oxide containing block. Future scattering experiments are planned to confirm phase assignments.

Investigation of microphase separation by atomic force microscopy in oligo(ethylene oxide) grafted oxanorbornyl diblock copolymers for use as lithium ion battery electrolyte supports

251st National Meeting (2016)

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