Polymerized mesophases of triblock copolymer/ionic liquid/monomer for gel electrolytes

Gel polymer electrolyte membranes have many advantages over their liquid counterparts, such as high energy density and flexible geometry. However, one of the major challenges in using the polymer electrolytes is their low ionic conductivity at ambient temperature that limits their practical applications. The development of heterogeneous electrolytes, comprising ion-rich and ion-poor regions, has enabled the decoupling of electrical and mechanical properties. However, ILs possess delocalized charges and are composed of ionic species that are generally large and asymmetric. These characteristics hinder the formation of well-ordered ionic domains and result in low conductivity. The emerging challenge is how to design heterogeneous polymer electrolytes with different shapes of continuous nanochannels to maximize the decoupling of ionic conductivity and mechanical strength. We propose that this challenge can be addressed through the polymerization of mesophases of monomer, ionic liquid, and amphiphilic block copolymers. Our results show that high mechanical strength without sacrificing the ionic conductivity can be obtained by the mesophase templating method.