Development and characterization of lithium salts doped nanoconductive ROMP polymers

The work presented in this paper describes a new technique for the design and synthesis of nanoconductive polymers. These nanoconductive materials were based on the ROMP of norbornene monomers with oxygen in the 7-position using Grubbs ruthenium initiator, Ru(CHPh)(PCy3)2Cl2, and mixing the resulting polymer with various inorganic salts such as LiBF4, LiPF6, LiAsF6 and LiSbF6. The norbornene derivative monomers and the corresponding ROMP polymers were fully characterized by spectral methods. The ROMP polymers containing inorganic salts were investigated by ESEM (environmental scanning electron microscopy) for the formation of nano-structures. The distribution of the lithium salts within the polymer matrix was determined by IBA analysis. The conductivity measurements were carried out on thin films of the ROMP polymers containing inorganic salts.