Journal
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY A
Volume 7, Issue 19, Pages 12201-12213Publisher
ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY
DOI: 10.1039/c9ta01852b
Keywords
-
Funding
- operating grant from Alberta Innovates - Technology Futures (AITF)
- AIHS
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
- Future Energy Systems (CFREF Program at the University of Alberta) [T06-Z01]
- University of Calgary
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The first family of lithium-ion electrolytes based on thermotropic liquid crystalline (LC) cyclodextrin (CD) is reported. The new electrolytes consist of composites of self-assembling and environment-friendly amphiphilic -CDs with lithium bistrifluoromethanesulfonimidate (LiTFSI). The unique geometry of the CD scaffold allows for efficient control of the amphiphilicity of the molecule through chemical derivatizations. The introduction of non-polar alkyl chains at the primary face of CD and multiple short and polar nitrile-terminated tetraethylene glycol chains at the other face provides a new class of LC materials capable of self-organization into homeotropically-aligned smectic mesophases, which retain long-range order over a wide temperature window. The assembly of numerous ethoxy groups at the secondary face of CD serves as an elegant pre-organization of the ion-chelating groups to form two-dimensional ion-conducting pathways, facilitating the directional motion of metal ions. Studies of several LC composites with LiTFSI have revealed promising thermal stability and ionic conductivity. Solid-state NMR studies have uncovered an activation energy of 0.14 eV for lithium diffusion, while cyclic voltammetry confirmed the composites remain electrochemically stable over a potential range of up to approximate to 3 V versus Li/Li+. These results demonstrate the great potential of this new class of organic electrolytes for different metal ions.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available