The state of ion aggregation in ionomers based on copolymers of styrene and acrylic acid: 1. Small-angle X-ray scattering studies

Small-angle X-ray scattering results for random ionomers based on copolymers of styrene and acrylic acid containing ions of alkali metals are presented. A study has been made on the influence of the content and type of acrylate in styrene-based ionomers on the state of ion aggregation. The obtained results indicate that in the case of the ionomers containing caesium ion clusters of sizes ∼100 Å and multiplets of sizes ∼20 Å are formed. For these ionomers, the increase of the temperature causes the increase of the size of clusters. In the case of ionomers containing lithium and potassium ions, only the smaller aggregate multiplets are formed.