We have prepared two types of one-dimensional ion-conductive polymer films containing ion nanochannels that are both perpendicular and parallel to the film surface. These films have been obtained by photopolymerization of aligned columnar liquid crystals of a fan-shaped imidazolium salt having acrylate groups at the periphery. In the columnar structure, the ionic part self-assembles into the inner part of the column. The column is oriented macroscopically in two directions by different methods: orientation perpendicular to the modified surfaces of glass and indium tin oxide with 3-(aminopropyl)triethoxysilane and orientation parallel to a glass surface by mechanical shearing. Ionic conductivities have been measured for the films with columnar orientation vertical and parallel to the surface. Anisotropic ionic conductivities are observed for the oriented films fixed by photopolymerization. The ionic conductivities parallel to the columnar axis are higher than those perpendicular to the columnar axis because the lipophilic part functions as an ion-insulating part. The film with the columns oriented vertically to the surface shows an anisotropy of ionic conductivities higher than that of the film with the columns aligned parallel to the surface.

Two series of 1-methyl-3-[3,4,5-tris(alkyloxy)benzyl]imidazolium salts (1(n/X À ); n ¼ 8, 12, 16, and 18) and 1,2-dimethyl-3-[3,4,5-tris(dodecyloxy)benzyl]imidazolium salts (2(12/X À )) containing anions (X À ), such as tetrafluoroborate, hexafluorophosphate, trifluoromethylsulfonate, and bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, have been synthesized. The thermal properties of these salts were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry, polarizing optical microscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The salts form hexagonal columnar liquid-crystalline phases except for 1(8/X À ) and 1(12/ X À ) containing CF 3 SO 3 À and (CF 3 SO 2 ) 2 N À , and 2(12/(CF 3 SO 2 ) 2 N À ) which melt directly to isotropic ionic liquids. The clearing points show a decreasing trend with an increase in the size of anions. The ionic conductivities of 1(16/X À ) forming columnar phases have been measured by using an alternating current impedance method. The conductivities depend on the nature of anions, suggesting that the predominant conduction mechanism is hopping and/or diffusion of anions in the columnar structures.Liquid crystals are self-organized materials that form fluid and ordered states.1 Liquid-crystalline (LC) nanostructures, such as layer (smectic phase) and cylinder (columnar phase), have the potential to be used as anisotropically functional materials for charge, ion, and mass transportation.2 The selfassembly of LC block molecules composed of two or more covalently bonded immiscible molecular parts leads to the formation of well-defined nano-segregated structures. It is of interest to introduce anisotropic self-assembled structures into ionic liquids for further functionalization. Recently, we have reported on one-dimensional organic ion-conductors using columnar LC imidazolium salts.5 For example, 1-methyl-3-[3,4,5-tris(alkyloxy)benzyl]imidazolium tetrafluoroborates (1(n/BF 4 À )) (Fig. 1) show hexagonal columnar (Col h ) LC phases. The aligned columnar materials exhibit anisotropic ionic conductivities. Although there had been several attempts to obtain one-dimensional LC ion-conductors, 6 no anisotropic ion conduction and no macroscopic alignment had been achieved until that time. The salts of 1(n/BF 4 À ) have block molecular structures consisting of ionic and non-ionic moieties. The ionic moieties can self-assemble into the center of the hexagonal columnar structure through ionic interactions and nano-segregation behavior. These columns can be macroscopically aligned in two directions: parallel to the surface of a glass substrate by mechanical shearing and vertical to the surface of amine-functionalized substrates.5 However, the ionic conductivities of the columnar imidazolium salts are about 10 À7 -10 À4 S cm À1 in the LC phases. If the conductivity can be increased to the order of 10 À3 S cm À1 , the applicability of the columnar ionic materials as electrolytes will be increased.In addition, improvement in the reduction stability of the imidazolium ring to electrodes is also required for the development of high-perform...