Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/K13479/01
Title:	THE STRUCTURE OF POLYMER ELECTROLYTES
Principal Investigator:	Bruce, Professor P
Other Investigators:
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department:	Chemistry
Organisation:	University of St Andrews
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	01 May 1995	Ends:	30 September 1998	Value (£):	160,852
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Energy Storage Materials Characterisation
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
Solid polymer electrolytes consist of salts, such as LiClO4, dissolved in high molecular weight coordinating polymers, such as poly(ethylene oxide). There is now intense interest in these materials world-wide, in part because they form the basis of all-solid-state rechargeable lithium batteries and other important technological devices. Although many physical measurements have been carried out on these solid electrolytes their interpretation is limited by a severe lack of structural knowledge of the systems. This has been a long-standing problem in the field. We have shown recently that complete crystal structures of polymer electrolytes can be extracted from their powder X-ray data, in some cases using ab initio methods. Our results demonstrate that it is now possible to access the structures of a wide range of polymer electrolytes using such powder diffraction methods. We propose to use powder X-ray diffraction to establish the crystal structure of a series of polymer electrolytes varying in their action size, anion size, action to anion ratio, and ether oxygen to action ratio, etc. These studies will offer an unprecedented opportunity to establish the critical factors controlling polymer electrolyte structure and ion-polymer interactions in general. We will also learn, from a knowledge of the crystal structures, how to inhibit crystallisation thus leading to amorphous, highly conducting, phases for use in devices.
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Organisation Website:	http://www.st-and.ac.uk