Electrical and electrochemical properties of imidazolium and phosphonium-based pNIPAAM ionogels

The electrical and electrochemical properties of two ionogel materials based on the poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) gel with 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ethyl sulfate and trihexyltetradecyl-phosphonium dicyanamide ionic liquids are investigated. The current-voltage curves show a current rectification for both ionogels and ionic liquids after inducing ion adsorption on gold electrode surface. The polymer matrix of the ionogels mitigates ion adsorption, resulting in lower rectification ratios when comparing with the corresponding ionic liquids. The stability and the electrochemical window (ECW) of the ionogels are calculated from cyclic voltammograms and compared with the ones obtained for the ionic liquids, achieving the widest electrochemical window the phosphonium based ionic liquid and its ionogel. Finally, the effect of the absorbed atmospheric water and the coefficient diffusion of the redox active species inside the IO is calculated. This work widens the knowledge of the behavior of ionogel materials characterized on gold electrode interfaces.This work was supported by the Basque Government under the Elkartek Program (MICRO4FAB, Grant No. KK-2016/00030). N.G.-G. was supported by a PhD fellowship from the University of Navarra. F.B.-L. acknowledges funding support from Gobierno de España, Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad, with Grant No. BIO2016-80417-P and Gobierno Vasco Dpto. Educación for the consolidation of research groups (IT1271-19)