SiO2/Ionic Liquid Hybrid Nanoparticles for Solid-State Lithium Ion Conduction

We report the physical and electrical characterization of a series of substituted imidazolium-based ionic liquids grafted on Stober-type SiO2. This hybrid architecture affords an increase of the lithium transference to 0.56 by hindering TFSI- (bis(trifluoromethane)sulfonimide) mobility to the total ionic conductivity. When doped with 16 wt % wt LiTFSI, the resulting hybrid organic/inorganic solid material exhibits a lithium diffusion coefficient of 2 x 10(-12) m(2)/s at 87 degrees C and a conductivity of ca. 10(-6) S/cm at room temperature and 10(-4) S/cm at 65 degrees C with an activation energy barrier of 0.89 eV.