Issue 48, 2013

Structural supercapacitor electrolytes based on bicontinuous ionic liquid–epoxy resin systems

Abstract

‘Structural electrolytes’ retain the desirable mechanical characteristics of structural (epoxy) resins whilst introducing sufficient ionic conductivity to operate as electrolytes in electrochemical devices. Here, a series of ionic liquid–epoxy resin composites were prepared to identify the optimum system microstructure required to achieve a high level of multifunctionality. The ionic conductivity, mechanical properties, thermal stability and morphology of the cured epoxy based structural electrolytes were studied as a function of phase composition for three fully formulated high performance structural epoxy systems. At only 30 wt% of structural resin and 70 wt% of ionic liquid based electrolyte, stiff monolithic plaques with thicknesses of 2–3 mm were obtained with a room temperature ionic conductivity of 0.8 mS cm−1 and a Young's modulus of 0.2 GPa. This promising performance can be attributed to a long characteristic length scale spinodal microstructure, suggesting routes to further optimisation in the future.

Graphical abstract: Structural supercapacitor electrolytes based on bicontinuous ionic liquid–epoxy resin systems

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
11 Aug 2013
Accepted
20 Oct 2013
First published
11 Nov 2013

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2013,1, 15300-15309

Structural supercapacitor electrolytes based on bicontinuous ionic liquid–epoxy resin systems

N. Shirshova, A. Bismarck, S. Carreyette, Q. P. V. Fontana, E. S. Greenhalgh, P. Jacobsson, P. Johansson, M. J. Marczewski, G. Kalinka, A. R. J. Kucernak, J. Scheers, M. S. P. Shaffer, J. H. G. Steinke and M. Wienrich, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2013, 1, 15300 DOI: 10.1039/C3TA13163G

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