Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 February 2011
The results of several investigations of solvent-free polymer electrolytes by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy conducted by the authors and other groups are reviewed. 23Na NMR spectra of a wide variety of amorphous polymer electrolytes are characteristic of the second-order quadrupole broadened central ± 1/2 transition with a distribution of quadrupole couplings. The temperature dependence of the linewidth is similar across a wide range of materials, and highlights the importance of polymer segmental motions above the glass transition temperature to ion mobility. Strong cation-anion interactions in poly(propylene oxide) complexes are indicated by measurements of mobile ion concentrations and, in some cases, the observation of salt precipitation at elevated temperature.