ePubs

The open archive for STFC research publications

Full Record Details

Persistent URL http://purl.org/net/epubs/work/30235
Record Status Checked
Record Id 30235
Title Diffusive solvent dynamics in a polymer gel electrolyte studied by quasi-elastic neutron scattering
Contributors
Abstract A quasielastic neutron scattering study has been performed on a polymer gel electrolyte consisting of lithium perchlorate dissolved in ethylene carbonate/propylene carbonate and stabilized with poly(methyl methacrylate). The dynamics of the solvent, which is crucial for the ion conduction in this system, was probed using the hydrogen/deuterium contrast variation method with nondeuterated solvent and a deuterated polymer matrix. Two relaxation processes of the solvent were studied in the 10–400µeV range at different temperatures. From analysis of the momentum transfer dependence of the processes we conclude that the faster process (µ100 µeV) is related to rotational diffusion of the solvent and the slower process (µ10?eV) to translational diffusion of the solvent. The translational diffusion is found to be similar to the diffusion in the corresponding liquid electrolyte at short distances, but geometrically constrained by the polymer matrix at distances beyond ?5Å. The study indicates that the hindered diffusion of the solvent on a length scale of the polymer network interchain distance (µ5–20Å) is sufficient to explain the reduced macroscopic diffusivity and ion conductivity of the gel electrolyte compared to the liquid electrolyte.
Organisation CCLRC , ISIS , ISIS-IRIS
Keywords ISIS 2005 , Materials
Funding Information
Related Research Object(s):
Licence Information:
Language English (EN)
Type Details URI(s) Local file(s) Year
Journal Article J Phys Chem 122 (2005): 234905. doi:10.1063/1.1931568 2005