3D Printed Solid Polymer Electrolytes with Bicontinuous Nanoscopic Domains for Ionic Liquid Conduction and Energy Storage

Solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) offer several advantages compared to their liquid counterparts, and much research has focused on developing SPEs with enhanced mechanical properties while maintaining high ionic conductivities. The recently developed polymerization-induced microphase separation (PIMS) technique offers a straightforward pathway to fabricate bicontinuous nanostructured materials in which the mechanical properties and conductivity can be independently tuned. In this work SPEs with tunable mechanical properties and conductivities are prepared via digital light processing 3D printing, exploiting the PIMS process to achieve nanostructured ion-conducting materials for energy storage applications. A rigid crosslinked poly(isobornyl acrylate-stat-trimethylpropane triacrylate) scaffold provided materials with room temperature shear modulus above 400 MPa, while soft poly(oligoethylene glycol methyl ether acrylate) domains containing the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis-(trifluoromethyl sulfonyl)imide endowed the material with ionic conductivity up to 1.2 mS cm(-1) at 30 degrees C. These features make the 3D-printed SPE very competitive for applications in all solid energy storage devices, including supercapacitors.

Automated summary

Tunable solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) with enhanced mechanical properties and conductivities were prepared via digital light processing 3D printing. The polymerization-induced microphase separation (PIMS) technique allowed for the fabrication of nanostructured ion-conducting materials, with a rigid crosslinked scaffold providing high shear modulus and soft domains containing an ionic liquid contributing to high ionic conductivity. These 3D-printed SPEs are promising for use in all solid energy storage devices, including supercapacitors.