Acoustic relaxation and ionic conductivity of oxyethylene aliphatic polyionenes

Polyionenes composed of oxyethylene and aliphatic hydrocarbon units were studied by differential scanning calorimetry, wide-and small-angle X-ray scattering, and dielectric spectroscopy. These polymers are characterized by the variation of T _g with the concentration of ionic centers. Polyionenes with short ethylene oxide segments are amorphous; however, as the average number of monomer units in the oxyethylene segments increases to 20, a crystalline structure typical of poly(ethylene oxide) is formed. Oxyethylene-aliphatic polyionenes are microphase-separated systems. Polyionenes from this series are characterized by a high ionic conductivity, which increases with an increase in the concentration of ionic sites—the conductivity at room temperature is 10^?5–10^?4 Ω^?1 cm^?1. By means of acoustic spectroscopy, it was found that the isotherms of the ultrasound absorption (frequency domain) and ultrasound speed had two dispersion regions. The mechanism of the dispersions was associated with the softening of the quasi-lattice produced by cationic sites and with the motion of chain segments connecting these sites, The speed of sound in polyionene is abnormally high (1800–2100 m/s) for polymers, a result which is due to a high level of intermolecular interactions.