The hierarchical structure of organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors and its evolution in water.

Autor: Tsarfati Y; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.; National Center for Electron Microscopy, Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA., Bustillo KC; National Center for Electron Microscopy, Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA., Savitzky BH; National Center for Electron Microscopy, Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA., Balhorn L; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA., Quill TJ; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA., Marks A; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA., Donohue J; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA., Zeltmann SE; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA., Takacs CJ; Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA, USA., Giovannitti A; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA., McCulloch I; University of Oxford, Department of Chemistry, Oxford, UK., Ophus C; National Center for Electron Microscopy, Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA., Minor AM; National Center for Electron Microscopy, Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA. aminor@lbl.gov.; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. aminor@lbl.gov., Salleo A; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA. asalleo@stanford.edu.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Nature materials [Nat Mater] 2025 Jan; Vol. 24 (1), pp. 101-108. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Sep 27.
DOI: 10.1038/s41563-024-02016-6
Abstrakt: Polymeric organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors underpin several technologies in which their electrochemical properties are desirable. These properties, however, depend on the microstructure that develops in their aqueous operational environment. We investigated the structure of a model organic mixed ionic-electronic conductor across multiple length scales using cryogenic four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy in both its dry and hydrated states. Four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy allows us to identify the prevalent defects in the polymer crystalline regions and to analyse the liquid crystalline nature of the polymer. The orientation maps of the dry and hydrated polymers show that swelling-induced disorder is mostly localized in discrete regions, thereby largely preserving the liquid crystalline order. Therefore, the liquid crystalline mesostructure makes electronic transport robust to electrolyte ingress. This study demonstrates that cryogenic four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy provides multiscale structural insights into complex, hierarchical structures such as polymeric organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors, even in their hydrated operating state.
Competing Interests: Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
(© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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