Ionic conduction of lithium oligo(ethyleneoxy) phenylsulfonate and its complex with poly(ethylene oxide)
Abstract The organic lithium salt, lithium p -[methoxy oligo(ethyleneoxy)] phenylsulfonate (EO n PSLi), possesses the ability of self-dissociation which leads to the exhibition of ionic conduction. The length of the ethyleneoxy repeating units in EO n PSLi has effects on the morphology, the self-dissociation ability, the `salt' concentration, the ionic conductive behaviour and the activation energy of ion transport of the oligoether salt, which consequently influences the ionic conductivity. In the complex of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and EO 2 PSLi, with a decrease of EO 2 PSLi content the phase structure of PEO changes gradually from a dispersed island-like structure to a well-distributed, continuous structure. The corresponding ionic conductive behaviour changes from Arrhenius type to non-Arrhenius type in which the transport of ion carriers depends on the segmental movement of PEO macromolecules.