University of Connecticut |
Polymer Program SeminarNanostructured Composites of Polymers and Ionic Liquids Friday, January 12, 2007 11:00 am , IMS Room 20 For years, ionic liquids have been the darlings of academia, and commercial applications are beginning to appear. Our goal is to expand the potential applications for ionic liquids by designing block polymers to impart nanostructures in ionic liquid media, aiming to develop polymer/ionic liquid composites with desired functionalities. For the first time, we reported the direct imaging of self-assembled amphiphilic diblock copolymers in ionic liquids by cryogenic transmission electron microscopy. The universal sequence of micellar structures (spheres, worms, and vesicles) were all achieved by tuning the block lengths. We presented an interesting reversible micelle transfer between an ionic liquid and water, which possesses the potential of being round trip delivery nano-vehicle between these two green solvents. We also demonstrated a promising way towards developing highly conductive ion gels by the gelation of triblock copolymers in ionic liquids. The resulting mechanically strong ion gels are transparent, thermal stable, and easy to process. They could be used to replace the current electrolytes in batteries, plastic conductors, and thin film transistors. With judicious selection of polymers, thermally sensitive ion gels were further developed.
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