Electrostatic Interactions Control the Nanostructure of Conjugated Polyelectrolyte–Polymeric Ionic Liquid Blends

TitleElectrostatic Interactions Control the Nanostructure of Conjugated Polyelectrolyte–Polymeric Ionic Liquid Blends
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2022
AuthorsLe, My Linh, Douglas J. Grzetic, Kris T. Delaney, Kai-Chieh Yang, Shuyi Xie, Glenn H. Fredrickson, Michael L. Chabinyc, and Rachel A. Segalman
JournalMacromolecules
Volume55
Date Published09/2022
ISSN0024-9297
Abstract

Polyelectrolyte complexation offers unique opportunities to compatibilize polymers with very different backbone chemistries and to control the morphology of the resulting blend via electrostatic manipulation. In this study, we demonstrate the ability to formulate homogeneous complexes of a conjugated polyelectrolyte with a polymeric ionic liquid, utilizing the electrostatic attraction among their oppositely charged side chains. Variation of electrostatic parameters, such as counterion concentration or polymer charge fraction, tunes the morphology of these polymer complexes from homogeneously disordered blend to weakly structured microemulsion where the local ordering arises from backbone-immiscibility-induced microphase segregation. Our experimental observations are in qualitative agreement with both field-theoretic simulation and random-phase approximation calculations. Simulated morphology snapshots suggest and experimental evidence also indicates that the microphase-segregated complex likely takes on a cocontinuous microemulsion structure. Our findings show that ionic interactions are an effective pathway to compatibilize polymers at macroscopic length scales while achieving controlled nanostructures in these ionic blends. Such systems have great potential for engineering the nanostructure of polymers to tailor applications such as nanofiltration, catalysis, and energy storage, where local ordering can enhance the physical properties of an otherwise macroscopically homogeneous structure.

URLhttps://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.2c01142
DOI10.1021/acs.macromol.2c01142