Three-dimensional Protonic Conductivity in Porous Organic Cage Solids



Liu, M ORCID: 0000-0003-0008-1480, Chen, L, Lewis, S, Chong, SY ORCID: 0000-0002-3095-875X, Little, MA, Hasell, T ORCID: 0000-0003-4736-0604, Aldous, IM, Brown, CM, Smith, MW, Morrison, CA
et al (show 2 more authors) (2016) Three-dimensional Protonic Conductivity in Porous Organic Cage Solids. Nature Communications, 7 (1). 12750-.

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Abstract

Open Access Published: 13 September 2016 Three-dimensional protonic conductivity in porous organic cage solids Ming Liu, Linjiang Chen, Scott Lewis, Samantha Y. Chong, Marc A. Little, Tom Hasell, Iain M. Aldous, Craig M. Brown, Martin W. Smith, Carole A. Morrison, Laurence J. Hardwick & Andrew I. Cooper Nature Communications volume 7, Article number: 12750 (2016) Cite this article 2555 Accesses 59 Citations 77 Altmetric Metricsdetails Abstract Proton conduction is a fundamental process in biology and in devices such as proton exchange membrane fuel cells. To maximize proton conduction, three-dimensional conduction pathways are preferred over one-dimensional pathways, which prevent conduction in two dimensions. Many crystalline porous solids to date show one-dimensional proton conduction. Here we report porous molecular cages with proton conductivities (up to 10−3 S cm−1 at high relative humidity) that compete with extended metal-organic frameworks. The structure of the organic cage imposes a conduction pathway that is necessarily three-dimensional. The cage molecules also promote proton transfer by confining the water molecules while being sufficiently flexible to allow hydrogen bond reorganization. The proton conduction is explained at the molecular level through a combination of proton conductivity measurements, crystallography, molecular simulations and quasi-elastic neutron scattering. These results provide a starting point for high-temperature, anhydrous proton conductors through inclusion of guests other than water in the cage pores.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Organic molecules in materials science, Porous materials, Theory and computation
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 01 Aug 2016 14:19
Last Modified: 19 Jan 2023 07:32
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12750
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3002619