the less diffusive Li + tends to attach to one ligand from one chain over 80 ns while exchanging among other ligands from different chains; the more diffusive Li + hops frequently between chains. It is also shown in Figure that Li + jumping among polymer chains is more frequent in Mix than in LiOTf, due to the weak polymer-ion interaction and hence short residence time when there is no ligand. In addition, the motion of Li + along the host chain is insignificant for this material system, contrary to other polymer-salt systems like PEO electrolytes, because only the ligand grafted on the ends of the chains can coordinate with the lithium ions while the monomers hardly interact with Li + due to the non-polar nature of PDMS. The radial distribution function (RDF) plot of oxygens within the PDMS backbone relative to the lithium ions supports this lack of association with an average coordination number of zero (Figure ).