Synthesis, Characterization and Conductivity Study of poly(N-vinylimidazole) Salt in Solid State

The present work deals with the study of conductivities of the polymer Poly(N-vinylimidazole) and the polyelectrolyte Poly(N-vinylimidazole)- HClO4. N-vinylimidazole is polymerized by free radical method and PVIM-HClO4, is prepared by acidification of PVIM with HClO4. Both the compounds have been characterized by IR, (HNMR)-H-1, TGA, DSC analysis. The conductivity measurements are done by varying frequency (0.001-100KHz) and temperature (30 degrees-90 degrees C). The electrical conductivity of the polyelectrolyte is found to be in the range of 10(-5) to 10(-6) S cm(-1). There is about 10(2)-10(3) fold increase in conductivity of the polyelectrolyte than the parent polymer. The polyelectrolyte is shown to be a predominantly ionic conductor with t(ion) = 0.88. Apparent activation energies for the polymer and the polyelectrolyte found to be 0.397 eV and 0.773 eV, respectively