Polymeric ionic liquids (PILs) are promising candidates for soft electronics. They are amorphous polymers and with ionic functionalities on the side chain with a counterion that leads to a low glass transition temperature (Tg). Here, we present our work to design redox-active polymers that allow charge transport while maintaining the behavior of PILs. Developing soft redox-active polymers is challenging due to their relatively high Tg. There have been efforts to decrease the Tg of redox-active polymers by increasing the length of the aliphatic chains in between tethered charge-conducting groups on the side chains and the backbone. However, this structure can negatively affect charge transport properties due to the spatial separation of the redox-active groups. In this work, we have synthesized the PIL with redox-active phenothiazine-bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (TFSI) ionic liquid side chains placed very close to the backbone. By placing the side chains closer to each other, enhanced charge transport was successfully demonstrated upon oxidation and with increasing amounts of the TFSI counter anion. At the same time, the Tg was significantly lowered by addition of a short ethylene glycol units on the phenothiazine. In this presentation, we will demonstrate that both enhanced electrical and mechanical properties could be attained with our novel polymeric design for future applications.

Redox-active polymeric ionic liquids with Pendant N-substituted phenothiazine

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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