Effects of aromatic regularity on the structure and conductivity of polyimide‐poly(ethylene glycol) materials doped with ionic liquid

An understanding of the structure and properties of polymer electrolyte systems can be crucial to a variety of different applications. The current work performs a study of the composition, structure and properties of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-aromatic polyimide systems incorporating ionic liquids that are relevant to several applications especially fuel cell membranes. Composition was varied through using different aromatic dianhydrides, aromatic diamines and in some cases synthesis solvent. Properties were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, small-angle x-ray scattering, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry. By varying solvent, aromatic regularity and expected rigidity can be tuned, impacting average conductivity by 30%. Varying the aromatic diamine can influence the length scale and amount of aromatic regularity, which can ultimately affect the conductivity by a factor of four. The maximum conductivity reached was 83 mS/cm at 80 °C and 70 %RH. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2015, 53, 509–521