Ion Dynamics in Solid Polyelectrolyte Materials

Frequency-dependent conductivities are a valuable tool for studying the ion dynamics on different time scales. We present and analyze Conductivity spectra of two kinds of solid polyelectrolyte materials, viz. polylectrolyte multilayers (PEM) and polyelectrolyte complexes (PEC). The PEM spectra are taken its it function of relative humidy at ambient temperature. By contrast, the conductivity of different kinds of dried PEC is studied as a function of temperature. For both kinds of material classes we show that the MIGRATION concept developed by Funke and co-workers can be used to describe the experimental spectra over wide ranges in frequency, indicating that forward-backward hopping motions of small ions play a vital role in solid polyelectrolyte materials. Apart from these potentially successful hops, localized motions of charged particles are found to influence the conductivity spectra as well. Based on the shape of our conductivity spectra and their scaling properties, we arrive at important conclusions about the microscopic ion dynamics in PEM and PEC materials.