The Influence of Monomer Structure on the Properties of Ionogels Obtained by Thiol–Ene Photopolymerization

The influence of ene and thiol monomer structure on the mechanical and electrochemical properties of thiol–ene polymeric ionogels were investigated. Ionogels were obtained in situ by thiol–ene photopolymerization of 1,3,5-triallyl-1,3,5-triazine-2,4,6(1H,3H,5H)-trione (TATT), 2,4,6-triallyloxy-1,3,5-triazine (TAT), diallyl phthalate (DAP), and glyoxal bis(diallyl acetal) (GBDA) used as enes and trimethylolpropane tris(3-mercaptopropionate) (TMPTP), pentaerythritol tetrakis(3-mercaptopropionate) (PETMP), and pentaerythritol tetrakis(3-mercaptobutyrate) (PETMB) used as thiols in 70 wt.% of ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (EMImNTf(2)). The mechanical strength of ionogels was studied by puncture resistance and ionic conductivity by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The course of photopolymerization by photo-DSC method (differential scanning calorimetry) as well as characterization of compositions and its components (by IR and UV spectroscopy-Kamlet–Taft parameters) were also studied. The resulting ionogels were opaque, with phase separation, which resulted from the dispersion mechanism of polymerization. The mechanical and conductive properties of the obtained materials were found to be largely dependent on the monomer structure. Ionogels based on triazine monomers TAT and TATT were characterized by higher mechanical strength, while those based on aliphatic GBDA had the highest conductivity. These parameters are strongly related to the structure of the polymer matrix, which is in the form of connected spheres. The conductivity of ionogels was high, in the range of 3.5–5.1 mS∙cm(−1).