Publication Type
Journal
Journal Name
The Journal of Chemical Physics
Publication Date
Page Numbers
1 to 10
Volume
142
Issue
8
Abstract
Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations are used to understand the self-assembly and structural
relaxation in ionomer melts containing less than 10% degree of ionization on the
backbone. The self-assembly of charged sites and counterions shows structural ordering
and charge counterion agglomeration with a range of structures that can be achieved
by changing the dielectric constant of the medium. The intermediate scattering function
shows a decoupling of charge and counterion relaxation at longer scales for high dielectric
constant and at shorter length scales for all dielectric constants. Overall, the slow structural
decay of counterions in the strongly correlated ionomer system closely resemble transport
properties of semi-flexible polymers.
