Polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs) with high ionic conductivity are important for energy-related applications, such as solid state batteries and fuel cells.  In order to achieve improved performance and longevity of the device, mechanical properties of the membrane must be promoted to the highest critical factor without sacrificing its ion conductivity, particularly in solid-state lithium ion batteries. In this talk, I will discuss our two new approaches of guiding ion transport in PEMs. The first one is to use holographic photopolymerization to fabricate long-range, defect-free, ordered PEMs with tunable ion conducting pathways.  We introduce the name holographic PEM (hPEM) for these unique membranes.  By incorporating polymer electrolytes into the carefully selected HP system, electrolyte layers/ion channels with length scales of a few tens of nanometers to micrometers can be formed.  The second approach involves re-examining the effect of crystalline lamellae on PEM ion conductivity. By controlling the polymer crystal orientation, we discovered that crystal lamellae can guide ion transport. We believe this finding can lead to new design strategies for manufacturing next generation PEMs.

Anisotropic ion transport in solid polymer electrolytes

248th National Meeting (2014)

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