High-Pressure Studies on the Chain and Segmental Dynamics of a Series of Poly(propylene glycol) Derivatives

Ion Dynamics of Monomeric Ionic Liquids Polymerized In Situ within Silica Nanopores

Polymerized ionic liquids are a promising class of versatile solid-state electrolytes for applications ranging from electrochemical energy storage to flexible smart materials that remain limited by their relatively low ionic conductivities compared to conventional electrolytes. Here, we show that the in situ polymerization of the vinyl cationic monomer, 1-ethyl-3-vinylimidazolium with the bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide counteranion, under nanoconfinement within 7.5 ± 1.0 nm diameter nanopores results in a nearly 1000-fold enhancement in the ionic conductivity compared to the material polymerized in bulk. Using insights from broadband dielectric and Raman spectroscopic techniques, we attribute these results to the role of confinement on molecular conformations, ion coordination, and subsequently the ionic conductivity in the polymerized ionic liquid. These results contribute to the understanding of the dynamics of nanoconfined molecules and show that in situ polymerization under nanoscale geometric confinement is a promising path toward enhancing ion conductivity in polymer electrolytes.

Studies on the internal medium-range ordering and high pressure dynamics in modified ibuprofens

Broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS), combined with the X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) techniques, was used to study the dynamics of the primary (α) relaxation process and slow mode (SM), as well as structural properties and intermolecular interactions, in the methyl-, isopropyl-, hexyl-, and benzyl derivative of a well-known pharmaceutical, ibuprofen (IBU). Unexpectedly, the XRD and FTIR methods revealed the formation of medium-range ordering together with some molecular organization, which probably leads to the creation of small aggregates at the scale of several microns at lower temperatures. Moreover, high pressure dielectric experiments revealed that the SM (observed in the ambient pressure data) is not detected in the loss spectra of compressed IBU esters, which is consistent with the results reported previously for propylene carbonate and dioxolane derivatives. This finding can be interpreted as connected to either the comparable time scale of the structural dynamics and slow mode or suppression of the motions responsible for the latter process at elevated pressure. Additionally, it was found that the pressure coefficient of the glass transition temperature (dTg/dp) and activation volume (ΔV) change with molecular weight (Mw) in a non-monotonic way. It might be related to various chemical structures, conformations, and intermolecular interactions, as well as different architecture of supramolecular aggregates in the investigated compounds.