Molecular dynamics simulation of polymer electrolytes based on poly(ethylene oxide) and ionic liquids. II. Dynamical properties

Dynamical properties of polymer electrolytes based on poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO) and ionic liquids of 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium cations were calculated by molecular dynamics simulations with previously proposed models (L. T. Costa and M. C. Ribeiro, J. Chem. Phys. 124, 184902 (2006)]. The effect of changing the ionic liquid concentration, temperature, and the 1-alkyl-chain lengths, [1,3-dimethylimidazolium]PF6 and [1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium]PF6 ([dmim]PF6 and [bmim]PF6), was investigated. Cation diffusion coefficient is higher than those of anion and oxygen atoms of PEO chains. Ionic mobility in PEO/[bmim]PF6 is higher than in PEO/[dmim]PF6, so that the ionic conductivity kappa of the former is approximately ten times larger than the latter. The ratio between kappa and its estimate from the Nernst-Einstein equation kappa/kappa(NE), which is inversely proportional to the strength of ion pairs, is higher in ionic liquid polymer electrolytes than in polymer electrolytes based on inorganic salts with Li+ cations. Calculated time correlation functions corroborate previous evidence from the analysis of equilibrium structure that the ion pairs in ionic liquid polymer electrolytes are relatively weak. Structural relaxation at distinct spatial scales is revealed by the calculation of the intermediate scattering function at different wavevectors. These data are reproduced with stretched exponential functions, so that temperature and wavevector dependences of best fit parameters can be compared with corresponding results for polymer electrolytes containing simpler ions. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.