Block copolymer electrolytes are promising candidates for electrochemical solid-state devices such as fuel cells and batteries. Their ability to conduct ions, while retaining their structural integrity makes them a safe choice for future technologies. Nevertheless, these materials often show a lower conductivity even after accounting for the reduced volume fraction of the conducting phase. The reason for the ionic transport hindrance is still under investigation. Many researchers attribute the slowdown in ionic conduction to combination of multiple phenomena such as tortuosity of the conducting pathways, poorly connected domains, grain boundaries, and low mobility near the polymers interfaces. The common denominator for all of these phenomena is that they occur in nanoscale domains which exist in different morphologies of block copolymers. However, most block copolymer electrolytes membranes studies are done in the micron scale which might be not sensitive and accurate enough.Here, we present a new approach to this challenge wherein we can fully align the block copolymer nanostructure along the direction of the electric field produced by coplanar interdigitated electrodes, thus enabling us to divorce morphological effects from other molecular-level effects. We observe that a poorly conducting region near the interface of the two blocks might explain the lower conductivity.

Exploring ionic conduction mechanism in the nanoscale by self- assembled block copolymer electrolytes films

2019 Spring National Meeting

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