Study of Ion Transport in Novel Protic Polymerized Ionic Liquids and Composites

In this work, a novel protic polymerized ionic liquid [PSTFSI][Im] is synthesized. The [PSTFSI][Im] polymer presents moderate ionic conductivity and evidences proton activity. Incorporating protic ionic liquid (Protic IL) [MIm][TFSI], the composites present enhanced ionic conductivity, up to 10(-3) S cm(-1) at 120 degrees C upon addition of 60 wt% [MIm][TFSI]. It is found that the [PSTFSI][Im] polymer matrix can promote ion dissociation of the [MIm][TFSI] IL, leading to a larger cation/anion relative mobility compared to the neat Protic IL. This work demonstrates the potential of protic PolyIL as a polymer matrix for proton conductors.