Soft segmental effect of methylene bis(p-cyclohexyl isocyanate) based thermoplastic polyurethane impregnated with lithium perchlorate/propylene carbonate on ionic conductivity
Tc. Wen et Hh. Chen, Soft segmental effect of methylene bis(p-cyclohexyl isocyanate) based thermoplastic polyurethane impregnated with lithium perchlorate/propylene carbonate on ionic conductivity, J APPL POLY, 80(7), 2001, pp. 935-942
Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) was employed as the polymer matrix for ion
conduction as gelled electrolytes with lithium perchlorate (LiClO4) in pro
pylene carbonate (PC) solution. The TPU was prepared by methylene bis(p-cyc
lohexyl isocyanate) as the hard segment while employing both poly(ethylene
glycol) (PEG) and poly(tetramethylene glycol) (PTMG) as the soft segments.
The copolymer comprising both PEG and PTMG was prepared such that it posses
sed the combined characteristics of good conductivity from the former and g
ood mechanical properties from the latter. All the polymers were characteri
zed by gel permeation chromatography, differential scanning calorimetry, an
d Fourier transform IR spectroscopy. The conductivity data were obtained fr
om alternating current impedance experiments. The results revealed that the
copolymer containing both PEG and PTMG as the soft segments showed better
performance than TPU containing either PEG or PTMG. The copolymer TPU(PEG/P
TMG) proved to be a good gelled electrolyte from 5 to 85 degreesC. This cop
olymer, impregnated with 150% LiClO4/PC, possessed good mechanical strength
and conductivity as high as 10(-3) S/cm. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.