Issue 43, 2009

Conductivity of ionic liquid-derived polymers with internal gold nanoparticle conduits

Abstract

The transport properties of self-supporting Au nanoparticleionic liquid-derived polymer composites were characterized. Topographic AFM images confirm the perforated lamellar composite architecture determined by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and further show that the in situ synthesized Au nanoparticles are localized within the hydrophilic (water) domains of the structure. At low Au nanoparticle content, the images reveal incomplete packing of spherical particles (i.e., voids) within these columns. The confinement and organization of the Au nanoparticles within the hydrophilic columns give rise to a large manifold of optical resonances in the near-IR region. The bulk composite conductivity, Rb, was determined by ac electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) for samples prepared with increasing Au3+ content over a frequency range of 10 Hz to 1 MHz. A 100-fold increase was observed in the bulk conductivity at room temperature for composites prepared with the highest amount of Au3+ (1.58 ± 0.065 µmol) versus the no Au composite, with the former reaching a value of 1.3 × 10−4 S cm−1 at 25 °C. The temperature dependence of the conductivity recorded over this range was well-modeled by the Arrhenius equation. EIS studies on samples containing the highest Au nanoparticle content over a broader range of frequencies (2 × 10−2 Hz to 5 × 105 Hz) identified a low frequency component ascribed to electronic conduction. Electronic conduction due to aggregated Au nanoparticles was further confirmed by dc conductivity measurements. This work identifies a nanostructured composite that exhibits both ionic transport through the polymeric ionic liquid and electronic conduction from the organized encapsulated columns of Au nanoparticles.

Graphical abstract: Conductivity of ionic liquid-derived polymers with internal gold nanoparticle conduits

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
21 May 2009
Accepted
20 Jul 2009
First published
14 Sep 2009

J. Mater. Chem., 2009,19, 8092-8101

Conductivity of ionic liquid-derived polymers with internal gold nanoparticle conduits

S. Lee, M. D. Cummins, G. A. Willing and M. A. Firestone, J. Mater. Chem., 2009, 19, 8092 DOI: 10.1039/B910059H

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