A RAMAN-STUDY OF ION POLYMER AND ION ION INTERACTIONS IN LOW-MOLECULAR-WEIGHT POLYETHER-LICF3SO3 COMPLEXES

We report Raman scattering investigations of the stability of various ion-polymer interactions from studies of LiCF3SO3-polyethers. New results for endcapped polyethers of different molecular weights in the range of one to eight repeat units are compared with previous data from OH-terminated polyether salt complexes. We conclude that anions coordinated to OH-endgroups are more stable than cations forming crosslinks between oxygens of adjacent polymer chains which in turn are more stable than cations coordinated to single oxygens. It is the weak oxygen-cation bond which is causing the dramatic increase in ion-ion association as temperature increases. OH-anion bonds are little affected by temperature.