Li+–Zn2+ tailored nanostructured metallohydrogel based mixed ionic–electronic conductors

Abstract

A conductive metallohydrogel (MHG) has been obtained via in situ LiOH deprotonation of mandelic acid derived ligand H₂IML followed by coordination of Zn²⁺ with an objective to fabricate a mixed ionic–electronic conductor (MIEC) without using any external dopant to the gel matrix. The MHG has been well characterized by UV-vis, ESI-mass, FT-IR, NMR, PXRD, FE-SEM, TEM and rheological techniques to gain insight into the mechanism of gel formation. The conductive nature of the MHG (3.06 × 10⁻² S cm⁻¹) and its utilization as a mixed ionic–electronic conductor have been well established by EIS measurements.