Structures of five salt forms of disulfonated monoazo dyes.

The structures of five s-block metal salt forms of three disulfonated monoazo dyes are presented. These are poly[di-µ-aqua-diaqua[µ4-3,3'-(diazane-1,2-diyl)bis(benzenesulfonato)]disodium(I)], [Na2(C12H8N2O6S2)(H2O)4]n, (I), catena-poly[[tetraaquacalcium(II)]-µ-3,3'-(diazane-1,2-diyl)bis(benzenesulfonato)], [Ca(C12H8N2O6S2)(H2O)4]n, (II), catena-poly[[[diaquacalcium(II)]-µ-2-(4-amino-3-sulfonatophenyl)-1-(4-sulfonatophenyl)diazenium] dihydrate], {[Na(C12H10N3O6S2)(H2O)2]·2H2O}n, (III), hexaaquamagnesium bis[2-(4-amino-3-sulfonatophenyl)-1-(4-sulfonatophenyl)diazenium] octahydrate, [Mg(H2O)6](C12H10N3O6S2)2·8H2O, (IV), and poly[[{µ2-4-[2-(4-amino-2-methyl-5-methoxyphenyl)diazen-1-yl]benzene-1,3-disulfonato}di-µ-aqua-diaquabarium(II)] dihydrate], {[Ba(C14H13N3O7S2)(H2O)4]·2H2O}n, (V). Compound (III) is that obtained on crystallizing the commercial dyestuff Acid Yellow 9 [74543-21-8]. The Mg species is a solvent-separated ion-pair structure and the others are all coordination polymers with bonds from the metal atoms to sulfonate groups. Compound (I) is a three-dimensional coordination polymer, (V) is a two-dimensional coordination polymer and both (II) and (III) are one-dimensional coordination polymers. The coordination behaviour of the azo ligands and the water ligands, the dimensionality of the coordination polymers and the overall packing motifs of these five structures are contrasted to those of monosulfonate monoazo congers. It is found that (I) and (II) adopt similar structural types to those of monosulfonate species but that the other three structures do not.

Factors influencing the conductivity of crystalline polymer electrolytes.

Crystalline polymer electrolytes conduct, in contrast to the established view for 30 years. The crystalline polymer poly(ethylene oxide)6:LiXF6, X = P, As, Sb is composed of tunnels formed from pairs of (CH2-CH2-O)n chains, within which the Li+ ions reside and along which they may migrate. The anions are located outside the tunnels. PEO6:LiXF6 formed from PEO of average molecular weight 1000 Da has an average chain length of 40 A compared with a typical crystallite size of 2500 angstroms, hence low molecular weight materials have many chain ends within a crystallite. More chain ends increase conductivity. Materials composed of polydispersed PEO (chains of different lengths) of average molecular weight 1000 Da exhibit a conductivity one order of magnitude greater than monodispersed materials of the same molecular weight. Replacing the -OCH3 groups on the chain ends with -OC2H5 increases the conductivity by a further order of magnitude. Conductivity may also be increased by isovalent or aliovalent doping of the 6:1 complexes in which XF6- is replaced by N(SO2CF3)2- or SiF6(2-), respectively.

Raising the conductivity of crystalline polymer electrolytes by aliovalent doping.

Polymer electrolytes, salts dissolved in solid polymers, hold the key to realizing all solid-state devices such as rechargeable lithium batteries, electrochromic displays, or SMART windows. For 25 years conductivity was believed to be confined to amorphous polymer electrolytes, all crystalline polymer electrolytes were thought to be insulators. However, recent results have demonstrated conductivity in crystalline polymer electrolytes, although the levels at room temperature are too low for application. Here we show, for the first time, that it is possible to raise significantly the level of ionic conductivity by aliovalent doping. The conductivity may be raised by 1.5 orders of magnitude if the SbF6- ion in the crystalline conductor poly(ethylene oxide)6:LiSbF6 is replaced by less than 5 mol % SiF6(2-), thus introducing additional, mobile, Li+ ions into the structure to maintain electroneutrality.

Structure and conductivity of the crystalline polymer electrolyte beta-PEO6:LiAsF6.

beta-PEO6:LiAsF6 polymer electrolyte has a distinctly different crystal structure from the alpha-phase of the same material. The change in the structure from alpha to beta lowers the conductivity by 1 order of magnitude.

Increasing the conductivity of crystalline polymer electrolytes.

Polymer electrolytes consist of salts dissolved in polymers (for example, polyethylene oxide, PEO), and represent a unique class of solid coordination compounds. They have potential applications in a diverse range of all-solid-state devices, such as rechargeable lithium batteries, flexible electrochromic displays and smart windows. For 30 years, attention was focused on amorphous polymer electrolytes in the belief that crystalline polymer:salt complexes were insulators. This view has been overturned recently by demonstrating ionic conductivity in the crystalline complexes PEO6:LiXF6 (X = P, As, Sb); however, the conductivities were relatively low. Here we demonstrate an increase of 1.5 orders of magnitude in the conductivity of these materials by replacing a small proportion of the XF6- anions in the crystal structure with isovalent N(SO2CF3)2- ions. We suggest that the larger and more irregularly shaped anions disrupt the potential around the Li+ ions, thus enhancing the ionic conductivity in a manner somewhat analogous to the AgBr(1-x)I(x) ionic conductors. The demonstration that doping strategies can enhance the conductivity of crystalline polymer electrolytes represents a significant advance towards the technological exploitation of such materials.

Supramolecular motifs in s-block metal-bound sulfonated monoazo dyes, part 1: structural class controlled by cation type and modulated by sulfonate aryl ring position.

The solid-state structures of 43 Li, Na, K, Rb, Mg, Ca and Ba salts of para- and meta-sulfonated azo dyes have been examined and can be categorised into three structural classes. All form alternating organic and inorganic layers, however, the nature of the coordination network that forms these layers differs from class to class. The class of structure formed was found to be primarily governed by metal type, but can also be influenced by the nature and position of the organic substituents. Thus, for the para-sulfonated azo dyes, Mg compounds form solvent-separated ion-pair solids; Ca, Ba and Li compounds form simple coordination networks based on metal-sulfonate bonding; and Na, K and Rb compounds form more complex, higher dimensional coordination networks. Compounds of meta-sulfonated azo dyes follow a similar pattern, but here, Ca species may also form solvent-separated ion-pair solids. Significantly, this first attempt to classify such dyestuffs using the principles of supramolecular chemistry succeeds not only for the simple dyes used here as model compounds, but also for more complex molecules, similar to modern colourants.

The structure of poly(ethylene oxide)8: NaBPh4 from a single crystal oligomer and polycrystalline polymer.

We show that the structure of a polymer electrolyte may be solved by growing single crystals of an oligomeric (short chain) complex which provided an adequate starting model for refinement of the equivalent polymeric structure using powder diffraction: the efficacy of this method has been demonstrated by determining for the first time the structure of an 8 : 1 complex, poly(ethylene oxide)(8) : NaBPh(4).

Ionic conductivity in the crystalline polymer electrolytes PEO6:LiXF6, X = P, As, Sb.

Ionically conducting polymers (salts dissolved in a polymer matrix) are of great interest because they uniquely exhibit ionic conductivity in a soft but solid membrane. As such, they are critical to the development of devices such as all-solid-state lithium batteries. The established view of ionic conductivity in polymer electrolytes is that this occurs in amorphous materials above their glass transition temperature and that crystalline polymer electrolytes are insulators. In contrast, we show that three crystalline polymer electrolytes, poly(ethylene oxide)(6):LiXF(6), X = P, As, Sb, not only conduct but do so better than the analogous amorphous phases! It is also shown that the conductivities of all three 6:1 complexes are similar, consistent with the dimension of the bottlenecks to conduction derived from their crystal structures. An increase in ionic conductivity with reduction of molecular weight of the crystalline polymer electrolyte (from 2000 to 1000) is reported and shown to relate to the increase in crystallite size on reducing molecular weight.