Issue 5, 2016

A single cation or anion dendrimer-based liquid electrolyte

Abstract

We propose here a novel liquid dendrimer-based single ion conductor as a potential alternative to conventional molecular liquid solvent–salt solutions in rechargeable batteries, sensors and actuators. A specific change from ester (–COOR) to cyano (–CN) terminated peripheral groups in generation-one poly(propyl ether imine) (G1-PETIM)–lithium salt complexes results in a remarkable switchover from a high cation (tLi+ = 0.9 for –COOR) to a high anion (tPF6 = 0.8 for –CN) transference number. This observed switchover draws an interesting analogy with the concept of heterogeneous doping, applied successfully to account for similar changes in ionic conductivity arising out of dispersion of insulator particle inclusions in weak inorganic solid electrolytes. The change in peripheral group simultaneously affects the effective ionic conductivity, with the room temperature ionic conductivity of PETIM–CN (1.9 × 10−5 Ω−1 cm−1) being an order of magnitude higher than PETIM–COOR (1.9 × 10−6 Ω−1 cm−1). Notably, no significant changes are observed in the lithium mobility even following changes in viscosity due to the change in the peripheral group. Changes in the peripheral chemical functionality directly influence the anion mobility, being lower in PETIM–COOR than in PETIM–CN, which ultimately becomes the sole parameter controlling the effective transport and electrochemical properties of the dendrimer electrolytes.

Graphical abstract: A single cation or anion dendrimer-based liquid electrolyte

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
28 nov 2015
Accepted
28 jan 2016
First published
29 jan 2016
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2016,7, 3390-3398

Author version available

A single cation or anion dendrimer-based liquid electrolyte

S. Sen, R. B. Jayappa, H. Zhu, M. Forsyth and A. J. Bhattacharyya, Chem. Sci., 2016, 7, 3390 DOI: 10.1039/C5SC04584C

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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