Formation of ordered patterns in electro-responsive polymer ionic liquid blends

Abstract

Directing reaction-diffusion (RD) phenomena, through the use of external stimuli has been one of the widely used approaches for designing multifunctional soft materials. Using modelling and simulation, we demonstrate that the non-uniform electric field can be harnessed to create intricate ordered patterns in polymer-ionic liquid (PIL) blends. Our investigation begins with the establishment of the equilibrium phase diagrams of electro-responsive PIL blends and subsequently, use the Poisson-Nernst-Planck equation to model the kinetics of pattern formation. Our simulations reveal that in the presence of non-uniform electric field the IL-rich domains self-aggregate in high electric field regions. Thus, the ordering of the electric field regions effectively dictates the ordering of the IL-rich phase in the PIL blends. We also demonstrate that our mechanism of spatiotemporal pattern formation is quite robust and can be dynamically controlled by varying the distribution of electric field. We believe that our methodology provides a simplistic mechanism for creating ordered patterns in soft materials through RD phenomena that can be exploited for designing other similar stimuli-responsive systems.