Date on Honors Thesis

Spring 4-28-2021

Major

Chemistry, Polymer and Material Science Track

Minor

Physics, Business Administration

Examining Committee Member

Kevin Miller, Advisor and Committee Member

Examining Committee Member

Daniel Johnson, Committee Member

Examining Committee Member

Grace Eder, Committee Member

Abstract/Description

Polymers which contain ionic liquid groups have numerous applications in a wide variety of fields. Past research from our group has shown that IL-containing polymers which exist in covalently crosslinked networks can exhibit good ionic conductivities despite the hindrance in polymer chain mobility and relaxation. In part one of this thesis, efforts to create ionic networks which have the capability of being rehealed after exposure to an external stimulus are discussed. Thermoreversible maleimide-furan chemistry was incorporated into an imidazolium-containing ionene network. Maleimide-terminated, imidazolium-containing monomers were coupled with furan-functionalized monomers, prepared from commercially available multifunctional acrylates. Thermal, mechanical and rheological characterization of the networks will be presented and discussed. In the second part of the thesis, the use of thiol-yne photopolymerization as a way to prepare new ionene networks is explained. A series of imidazolium-based bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide [NTf2] ionene networks were prepared by using thiol-yne ‘click’ photopolymerization to crosslink bisalkynylimidazolium [NTf2] monomers with pentaerythritol tetrakis(3-mercaptopropionate) (PTMP). The thiol:yne molar ratio was varied in order to examine changes in the thermal and mechanical properties of the resulting polymer networks. Photorheology was utilized to determine the approximate gel points for each of the polymer networks prepared. Crosslink density was the primary factor in changing glass transition temperature and tensile properties of the networks.

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