abstract
The protic ionic liquid (PIL) N-butylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate ([BIm][TfO]) was obtained for the first time and incorporated into a sol-gel-derived di-ureasil matrix with a concentration of X=5, 10, and 30%, where X is the ratio of the mass of PIL per mass of poly(oxyethylene). Four years after their synthesis, the resulting quasi-anhydrous electrolytes remained amorphous, homogeneous, flexible, and thermally stable below 200 degrees C. SEM/EDS data revealed the presence of the PIL at the surface of the xerogels with X>5%, demonstrating that this type of morphological characterization is mandatory to avoid misleading ionic conductivity values. The highest ionic conductivity was produced in the washed sample with X=30% (3.5 x 10(-5) and 2.1 x 10(-3) Scm(-1) at 25 and 170 degrees C, respectively). The present family of electrolytes yielded higher conductivities than the N-ethylimidazolium trifluoromethane-sulfonate-based analogues introduced earlier by our group and may thus be considered as promising candidates for applications in fuel cells.
keywords
FUEL-CELL ELECTROLYTES; CONDUCTING MEMBRANES; PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES; POLYMER ELECTROLYTES; PHYSICAL-PROPERTIES; TEMPERATURE; SPECTROSCOPY; CHEMISTRY; ORMOLYTES; MELTS
subject category
Electrochemistry
authors
Cardoso, MA; Leones, R; Rodrigues, LC; Fernandes, M; Figueiredo, FL; Nunes, SC; Silva, MM; Bermudez, VD
our authors
Filipe Miguel H Lebre R Figueiredo
Principal Researcher
Marita Alves Cardoso
PhD Studentacknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT) and when applicable by FEDER under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement for financial support (contracts PTDC/CTM-BPC/112774/2009, UID/Multi/00709/2013, PEst-C/QUI/UI0686/2013, PEst-OE/QUI/UI0616/2014, and FCT UID/CTM/50011/2013) and COST Action MP1202