Insights into the structure and Ion transport of pectin-[BMIM] [PF6] electrolytes

We investigate the effect of pectin on the structure and ion transport properties of the room-temperature ionic liquid elec-
trolyte 1-n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([BMIM][PF6]) using molecular dynamics simulations. We find that pectin
induces intriguing structural changes in the electrolyte that disrupt large ionic aggregates and promote the formation of smaller
ionic clusters, which is a promising finding for ionic conductivity. Due to pectin in [BMIM][PF6] electrolytes, the diffusion coef-
ficient of cations and anions is observed to decrease by a factor of four for a loading of 25 wt. % of pectin in [BMIM][PF6]
electrolyte. A strong correlation between the ionic diffusivities (D) and ion-pair relaxation timescales (τc) is observed such that
D ∼ τc−0.75 for cations and D ∼ τc−0.82 for anions. The relaxation timescale exponents indicate that the ion transport mecha-
nisms in pectin-[BMIM][PF6] electrolytes are slightly distinct from those found in neat [BMIM][PF6] electrolytes (D ∼ τ−1
c ). Since
pectin marginally affects ionic diffusivities at the gain of smaller ionic aggregates and viscosity, our results suggest that pectin-
ionic liquid electrolytes offer improved properties for battery applications, including ionic conductivity, mechanical stability, and
biodegradability.