Solid State Ionics, Vol.149, No.3-4, 285-294, 2002
Conductive properties of polymer diacrylates incorporating solutions of lithium salts - Part II. Model of ionic transport in the gel in relation with the polymer network structure
Gamma butyrolactone (BL) or BL/LiN(CF3SO2)(2) (LiTFSI) solutions were incorporated in the polymer network of 1,3-butanediol diacrylate (BDD) or tetraethylene glycol diacrylate (TEG) polymerized under UV irradiation with about 1 wt.% of benzoin methyl ether as initiator. The evolution of the ionic conductivity, determined by ac impedance technique, with both gel composition and temperature, is related to the ions-solvent and ions-polymer interactions, assuming a cubic lattice structure for the polymer network. The decrease in conductivity from the "free" liquid phase to the incorporated liquid phase is due to both a dynamic equilibrium of solvation of ions between the solvent and the polymer, and, fir the "free" ions, a drastic decrease in their mobility because of long-range interactions with the polymer. These interactions are quantified in terms of a "fixation equilibrium constant" and a "microscopic viscosity" relative to ion mobility in the gel. In addition, the moving of ions is not straight in the gel and a tortuosity coefficient in relation with the gel composition is defined.