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The zwitterion effect in high-conductivity polyelectrolyte materials

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Abstract

The future of lithium metal batteries as a widespread, safe and reliable form of high-energy-density rechargeable battery depends on a significant advancement in the electrolyte material used in these devices. Molecular solvent-based electrolytes have been superceded by polymer electrolytes in some prototype devices1, primarily in a drive to overcome leakage and flammability problems, but these often exhibit low ionic conductivity and prohibitively poor lithium-ion transport2,3,4. To overcome this, it is necessary to encourage dissociation of the lithium ion from the anionic polymer backbone, ideally without the introduction of competing, mobile ionic species. Here we demonstrate the effect of zwitterionic compounds, where the cationic and anionic charges are immobilized on the same molecule, as extremely effective lithium ion 'dissociation enhancers'. The zwitterion produces electrolyte materials with conductivities up to seven times larger than the pure polyelectrolyte gels, a phenomenon that appears to be common to a number of different copolymer and solvent systems.

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Figure 1
Figure 2: The effect of zwitterion addition on the conductivity of the polyelectrolyte systems.
Figure 3: The effect of zwitterion addition on the conductivity of the 50:50 P(AMPSLi-c-DMAA) copolymer system.
Figure 4: 7Li NMR spectra and diffusion coefficients of the gels with and without zwitterion.
Figure 5

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry, Monash University, Wellington Road, Clayton, 3800, Victoria, Australia

    Churat Tiyapiboonchaiya, Jennifer M. Pringle, Patrick C. Howlett & Douglas R. MacFarlane

  2. School of Physics and Materials Engineering, Monash University, Wellington Road, Clayton, 3800, Victoria, Australia

    Jiazeng Sun, Nolene Byrne & Maria Forsyth

Authors
  1. Churat Tiyapiboonchaiya
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  2. Jennifer M. Pringle
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  3. Jiazeng Sun
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  4. Nolene Byrne
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  5. Patrick C. Howlett
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  6. Douglas R. MacFarlane
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  7. Maria Forsyth
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Douglas R. MacFarlane.

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Tiyapiboonchaiya, C., Pringle, J., Sun, J. et al. The zwitterion effect in high-conductivity polyelectrolyte materials. Nature Mater 3, 29–32 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1044

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1044

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