High ionic conduction, toughness and self-healing poly(ionic liquid)-based electrolytes enabled by synergy between flexible units and counteranions

• Published in: RSC advances Vol. 11; no. 56; pp. 35687 - 35694
• Main Authors: Yang, Fu Jie, Liu, Qing Feng, Wu, Xiao Bing, He, Yu Yi, Shu, Xu Gang, Huang, Jin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Royal Society of Chemistry 03.11.2021; The Royal Society of Chemistry
• Subjects: Acrylics; Chain mobility; Chemistry; composite polymers; Copolymers; Electrolytes; Electronics; Ion currents; Ion transport; Ionic liquids; Ions; Polymers; Stretchability; Tensile strain; tensile strength; Toughness; Trifluoromethane; Wearable technology
• ISSN: 2046-2069; 2046-2069
• DOI: 10.1039/d1ra04553a

Polymer electrolytes offer great potential for emerging wearable electronics. However, the development of a polymer electrolyte that has high ionic conductivity, stretchability and security simultaneously is still a considerable challenge. Herein, we reported an effective approach for fabricating high-performance poly(ionic liquids) (PILs) copolymer (denoted as PIL-BA ) electrolytes by the interaction between flexible units (butyl acrylate) and counteranions. The introduction of butyl acrylate units and bis(trifluoromethane-sulfonyl)imide (TFSI − ) counteranions can significantly enhance the mobility of polymer chains, resulting in the effective improvement of ion transport, toughness and self-healability. As a result, the PIL-BA copolymer-based electrolytes containing TFSI − counterions achieved the highest ionic conductivity of 2.71 ± 0.17 mS cm −1 , 1129% of that of a PIL homopolymer electrolyte containing Cl − counterions. Moreover, the PIL-BA copolymer-based electrolytes also exhibit ultrahigh tensile strain of 1762% and good self-healable capability. Such multifunctional polymer electrolytes can potentially be applied for safe and stable wearable electronics. Polymer electrolytes offer great potential for emerging wearable electronics.