Ion jelly: a tailor-made conducting material for smart electrochemical devices

摘要

We present a new concept for the design of a polymeric conducting material that combines the chemical versatility of an organic salt (ionic liquid) with the morphological versatility of a biopolymer (gelatin); the resulting 'ion jelly' can be applied in electrochemical devices, such as batteries, fuel cells, electro-chromic windows or photovoltaic cells.rnA common feature of electrochemical devices, such as batteries, capacitors, fuel cells, actuators, photovoltaic cells, electrochromic windows and light emitting cells, is the presence of an electrolyte whose properties have a pronounced effect on the device performance. A reasonable conductivity (above 10~(-4) S cm~(-1)), and a large electrochemical window (above 1 V) are some of the criteria that an electrolyte must meet to be suitable for utilization in an electrochemical device.