Conducting polymers poly electrolytes

As an example of a practical situation where the instrument has been used, the study of an electrically conductive polymer, poly(3-octylthiophene), is representative. This polymer is electrochemically polymerized on a Pt-disc, which then is used as a working electrode in a conventional three-electrode electrochemical cell. In this example glassy-carbon was used as an auxiliary electrode, while the reference electrode was a Ag/AgCl (3M KCl). The supporting electrolyte was 0.1 M LiBF4 in propylene carbonate. 

The first use of ionic liquids in free radical addition polymerization was as an extension to the doping of polymers with simple electrolytes for the preparation of ion-conducting polymers. Several groups have prepared polymers suitable for doping with ambient-temperature ionic liquids, with the aim of producing polymer electrolytes of high ionic conductance. Many of the prepared polymers are related to the ionic liquids employed for example, poly(l-butyl-4-vinylpyridinium bromide) and poly(l-ethyl-3-vinylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide [38 1]. 

The huge literature on the electronic conductivity of dry conducting polymer samples will not be considered here because it has limited relevance to their electrochemistry. On the other hand, in situ methods, in which the polymer is immersed in an electrolyte solution under potential control, provide valuable insights into electron transport during electrochemical processes. It should be noted that in situ and dry conductivities of conducting polymers are not directly comparable, since concentration polarization can reduce the conductivity of electrolyte-wetted films considerably.139 Thus in situ conductivities reported for polypyrrole,140,141 poly thiophene,37 and poly aniline37 are orders of magnitude lower than dry conductivities.15... 

Polymeric conducting systems were also prepared by in situ polymerization of vinyl monomers in ionic liquids [22], with a conductivity of 1 mS/cm. A conductive polymer electrolytes were also prepared by polymerization in liquid EMIm(HF)nF leading to a composite poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)-EMIm(HF)nF. Recently, polymer electrolytes were prepared in the form of thin foils, by incorporating ionic liquids in a polymer matrix [13-15], Conductivities of polymer-IL or polymer-IL-solvent systems are collected in Table 4. 

The broad nature of the current peaks in the voltammogram of conducting polymers such as poly pyrrole has been interpreted in a number of w one of which was to attribute it to the movement of anions across the polymei, electrolyte interface, a vital process if the overall charge neutrality of the film is to be maintained. The participation of the electrolyte in the electrochemistry of the polymer film is easily seen by comparing the response of polypyrrole in a variety of different electrolytes (see Figure 3.74). 

Lithium iodide is the electrolyte in a number of specialist batteries, especially in implanted cardiac pacemakers. In this battery the anode is made of lithium metal. A conducting polymer of iodine and poly-2-vinyl pyridine (P2VP) is employed as cathode because iodine itself is not a good enough electronic conductor (Fig. 2.3a). The cell is fabricated by placing the Li anode in contact with the polyvinyl pyridine-iodine polymer. The lithium, being a reactive metal, immediately combines with the iodine in the polymer to form a thin layer of lithium iodide, Lil, which acts as the electrolyte ... 

While Wright and co-workers were the first group of researchers to discover that the ether-based polymer poly (ethylene oxide) (PEG) was able to dissolve inorganic salts and exhibit ion conduction at room temperature, " it was the suggestion from Armand et al. that placed these novel materials at the center stage of lithium electrolyte research for more than a decade.The number of comprehensive reviews on this subject could serve as an indicator of the general enthusiasm for these materials during the period. ... 

Batteries. Many 7t-conjugated polymers can be reversibly oxidized or reduced. This has led to interest in these materials for charge-storage batteries, since polymers are lightweight compared to metallic electrodes and liquid electrolytes. Research on polymer batteries has focused on the use of polymers as both the electrode and electrolyte. Typical polymer electrolytes are formed from complexes between metal-ion salts and polar polymers such as poly(ethyleneoxide). The conductivity is low at room temperature due to the low mobility of cations through the polymer-matrix, and the batteries work more efficiendy when heated above the glass-transition temperature of the polymer. Advances in the development of polymer electrolytes have included polymers poly(ethylene oxide) intercalated into layered silicates (96). These solid-phase electrolytes exhibit significantly improved conductance at room temperature. 

In the case of ion conductive polymers, gel polymer electrolytes which consist of a polymer matrix, organic solvents and supporting electrolyte, were introduced as novel nonaqueous electrolyte systems in electrochemical applications, such as rechargeable batteries and electric double layer capacitors [3-5], Recently, considerable attention has been devoted to the application of gel poly-... 

The next group of materials comprises conducting polymers (ICP). Systems with identical polymers have often been reported for polyacetylene. It is known that this ICP forms insertion compounds of the A and D types (see Section 6.4, and No. 5 in Table 12). Cells of this Idnd were successfully cycled [277, 281-283]. However, the current efficiency was only 35% heavy losses were observed due to an overoxidation of the PA [284]. In other cases as for polypyrrole (PPy), the formation of D-PPy was anticipated but did not occur [557, 558]. Entry (6) in Table 12 represents some kind of ideal model. A PPy/PPy cell with alkyl or aryl sulfates or sulfonates rather than perchlorates is claimed in [559]. Similar results were obtained with symmetric polyaniline (PANI) cells [560, 561]. Symmetric PPy and RANI cells yield about 60% current efficiency, much more than with PA. An undoped PPy/A-doped PPy combination yields an anion-concentration cell [562, 563], in analogy to graphite [47], (cf. No. 7). The same principle can be applied with the PPy/PT combination [562, 563] (cf. No. 8). Kaneto et al. [564] have reported in an early paper the combination of two pol54hiophene (PT) thin layers (< 1 pm), but the chargeability was relatively poor (Fig. 40, and No. 9 in Table 12). A pronounced improvement was due to Gottesfeld et al. [342, 343, 562, 563], who employed poly[3-(4-fluoro-phenyl)thiophene], P-3-FPT, in combination with a stable salt electrolyte (but in acetonitrile cf. Fig. 40 and No. 10 in Table 12). In all practical cases, however, Es.th was below 100 Wh/kg. 

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