Heat Capacities and Glass Transitions of Ion Gels

We have investigated thermodynamic properties of ion gels consisting of a PMMA [poly(methyl methacrylate)] network and EMITFSI [1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide] ionic liquid by means of an adiabatic calorimeter. The heat capacity data were measured in the temperature range between 5 and 375 K for 7 samples with x = 0 (pure PMMA), 0.10, 0.18, 0.27, 0.48, 0.65, and 1.0 (pure ionic liquid) where x is a mole fraction of EMITFSI. These data revealed that two broad but distinct glass transitions appeared in the low x region. The upper glass transition is mainly due to the freezing of the PMMA motion, while the lower one is due to the ionic liquid. The upper glass transition temperature T-g drastically decreased with increasing x, reflecting a large plasticization effect observed in mechanical experiments. The x dependence of the T(g)s and the excess heat capacities gave new physical insight to the interaction between polymer and ionic liquid in ion gels.