Thermal stability, complexing behavior, and ionic transport of polymeric gel membranes based on polymer PVdF-HFP and ionic liquid, [BMIM][BF4].

PVdF-HFP + IL(1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate; [BMIM][BF(4)]) polymeric gel membranes containing different amounts of ionic liquid have been synthesized and characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and complex impedance spectroscopic techniques. Incorporation of IL in PVdF-HFP polymer changes different physicochemical properties such as melting temperature (T(m)), thermal stability, structural morphology, amorphicity, and ionic transport. It is shown by FTIR, TGA (also first derivative of TGA, "DTGA") that IL partly complexes with the polymer PVdF-HFP and partly remains dispersed in the matrix. The ionic conductivity of polymeric gel membranes has been found to increase with increasing concentration of IL and attains a maximum value of 1.6 × 10(-2) S·cm(-1) for polymer gel membrane containing 90 wt % IL at room temperature. Interestingly, the values of conductivity of membranes with 80 and 90 wt % of IL were higher than that of pure IL (100 wt %). The polymer chain breathing model has been suggested to explain it. The variation of ionic conductivity with temperature of these gel polymeric membranes follows Arrhenius type thermally activated behavior.