Structure and properties of Li-ion conducting polymer gel electrolytes based on ionic liquids of the pyrrolidinium cation and the bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide anion

We have investigated the structure and physical properties of Li-ion conducting polymer gel electrolytes functionalized with ionic liquid/lithium salt mixtures. The membranes are based on poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) copolymer, PVdF-HFP, and two ionic liquids: pyrrolidinium cations, N-butyl-N-methylpyrrolidinium (PyR14+), N-butyl-N-ethylpyrrolidinium (PyR24+), and bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl) imide anion (TFSI). The ionic liquids where doped with 0.2 mol kg(-1) LiTFSI. The resulting membranes are freestanding, flexible, and nonvolatile. The structure of the polymer and the interactions between the polymer and the ionic liquid electrolyte have been studied using Raman spectroscopy. The ionic conductivity of the membranes has been studied using dielectric spectroscopy whereas the thermal properties were investigated using differential scanning caloriometry (DSC)