Acid‐in‐Clay Electrolyte for Wide‐Temperature‐Range and Long‐Cycle Proton Batteries

Abstract

Proton conduction underlies many important electrochemical technologies. A family of new proton electrolytes is reported: acid‐in‐clay electrolyte (AiCE) prepared by integrating fast proton carriers in a natural phyllosilicate clay network, which can be made into thin‐film (tens of micrometers) fluid‐impervious membranes. The chosen example systems (sepiolite–phosphoric acid) rank top among the solid proton conductors in terms of proton conductivities (15 mS cm−1 at 25 °C, 0.023 mS cm−1 at −82 °C), electrochemical stability window (3.35 V), and reduced chemical reactivity. A proton battery is assembled using AiCE as the solid electrolyte membrane. Benefitting from the wider electrochemical stability window, reduced corrosivity, and excellent ionic selectivity of AiCE, the two main problems (gassing and cyclability) of proton batteries are successfully solved. This work draws attention to the element cross‐over problem in proton batteries and the generic “acid‐in‐clay” solid electrolyte approach with superfast proton transport, outstanding selectivity, and improved stability for room‐ to cryogenic‐temperature protonic applications.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
May 02, 2022
Source ID
10.1002/adma.202202063

Entities

People

  • Charles M. Settens
  • David Clarkson
  • Emre Tekoglu
  • Fei Han
  • Guiyin Xu
  • He Zhu
  • Heng Jiang
  • Jianan Zhang
  • Ju Li
  • Mingda Li
  • Qi Liu
  • Sean K. Sandstrom
  • Shitong Wang
  • Sili Deng
  • So Yeon Kim
  • Steven G. Greenbaum
  • Tao Gao
  • Thanh H. Nguyen
  • Weijiang Xue
  • Weiwei Fan
  • Xiulei Ji
  • Yang Ren
  • Yanhao Dong

Organizations

  • City University of Hong Kong
  • Hunter College
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • National Science Foundation
  • Office of Naval Research
  • Oregon State University
  • University of Utah

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Agricultural Chemistry/Soil Science
  • Battery Technology and Engineering
  • Materials Science and Engineering.