FABRICATION OF SOLID POLYMER ELECTROLYTE BASED ON BLOCK-GRAFT COPOLYMER - 1 - PRECISION SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF -BLOCK-[POLY(P-HYDROXYSTYRENE)-GRAFT-POLY(ETHYLENE OXIDE)]-BLOCK-POLYSTYRENE

Block-graft copolymer, t)-block-[poly(HSt)-graft-poly(EO)]-block-poly( St) was prepared from styrene (St), p-tert-butoxystyrene (BuOSt), and ethylene oxide (EO) in four steps through anionic polymerization: (1) block copolymerization of St, BuOSt, and St; (2) deprotection of tert- butoxy group; (3) potassiation of phenolic OH; (4) graft copolymerizat ion of EO initiated from phenoxide anion. The samples obtained were co nfirmed to have predictable number and length of graft chains as well as predictable length of backbone triblock copolymer and narrow molecu lar weight distributions by precise characterization using osmometry, H-1 and C-13-NMR. Th,,ample showed very clear microphase separation st ructure and the sample/LiClO4 complex showed high ionic conductivity. The block-graft copolymer is expected to be a new class of material fo r solid polymer electrolyte. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.