Capacitance of thin films containing polymerized ionic liquids
Electrode-polymer interfaces can dictate properties of thin films including their capacitance, electric field, and charge transport, but scientists remain to fully comprehend their interfacial dynamics. In a new report on Science Advances, Rajiv Kumar, and a team of interdisciplinary scientists in the U.S. and Poland investigated electrified interfaces of an imidazolium-based polymerized ionic liquid (PolyIL) to understand the electric field induced transformations at the electrode-polymer interface. To achieve this, they used combinations of broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS), specular neutron reflectivity and molecular dynamics simulations. The capacitance depended on the applied voltage, which originated from the responses of an adsorbed polymer layer. The work will provide insight to features that affect the structure and properties of electrode-polymer interfaces to design next-generation energy storage and harvesting devices.