(Invited) Structural Analysis of Multifunctional Ionic Gels

Abstract

Ionic liquied mediated gels commonly known as ion gels or ionic gels have received remarkable attention for their advanced application in electrochemical and electromechanical devices, such as actuators, lithium batteries, electric double-layer capacitors, dye-sensitized solar cells and fuel cells [1, 2]. Investigation of the internal structure of ionic gels have been previously reported by our research group to understand their network homogeneity in association with mechanical characterization[3]. In this work we focused to determine structural analysis of ionic gels combining multifunctional thiol monomers and IL 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (BMImFSI). Therefore, we developed thiol monomer-based ionic gels via thiol-ene click reaction with theoretically homogeneous uniform network and investigated their mechanical properties using both conventional destructive method i.e. compression test and a unique nondestructive method using mesh size by scanning microscopic light scattering (SMILS) techniques [4]. The mesh size of the IGs was found to be highly dependent on the functionality of the monomer both in IL and conventional solvent media. Also long chain crosslinkers have been found to form dangling chain within the network hindering their homogeneous network formation. Thus our systems can offer to combine internal structures with the mechanical properties for characterization of soft materials in smart nondestructive ways.