Inverse vulcanized sulfur–cycloalkene copolymers: Effect of ring size and unsaturation on thermal properties

Herein, we study the influence of ring size and number of carbon-carbon double bonds of cycloalkene on structure property relation of inverse vulcanized sulfur copolymers. Reaction kinetics was monitored by XRD and the copolymer structure was confirmed by ¹H NMR and FTIR spectroscopy. DSC and TGA indicate the significant increase in Tg and thermal stability of the copolymer with increase in ring size and number of double bonds density; respectively. Thermal conductivity of the copolymers (0.083 W/mK at 50 °C) was also considerably reduced compared to the pristine sulfur, which make these copolymer suitable for thermal insulation applications. Moreover, these sulfur-rich copolymers can also be used as potential cathode materials in lithium-sulfur batteries.