Scalable fabrication of Solvent-Free composite solid electrolyte by a continuous Thermal-Extrusion process.

Composite solid-state electrolytes (CSEs) are regarded as a promising alternative for the next-generation lithium-ion batteries because they integrate the advantages of inorganic electrolytes and organic electrolytes. However, there are two issues faced by current CSEs: 1) a green and feasible approach to prepare CSEs in large scales is desired; and 2) the trace solvents, remaining from the preparation processes, lead to some serious concerns, such as safety hazard issues, electrolyte-electrode interfacial issues, and reduced durability of batteries. Here, a continuous thermal-extrusion process is presented to realize the large-scale fabrication of solvent-free CSE. A 38.7-meter CSE membrane was prepared as a demonstration in this study. Thanks to the elimination of residual solvents, the electrolyte membrane exhibited a high tensile strength of 3.85 MPa, satisfactory lithium transference number (0.495), and excellent electrochemical stability (5.15 V). Excellent long-term stability was demonstrated by operating the symmetric lithium cell at a stable current density of 0.1 mA cm-2 for over 3700 h. Solvent-free CSE lithium metal batteries showed a discharge capacity of 155.7 - 25.17 mAh g-1 at 0.1 - 2.0C, and the discharge capacity remained 78.1% after testing for 380cycles.

Conjugated microporous polymer membranes for light-gated ion transport.

Inspired by the light-gated ion channels in cell membranes that play important roles in many biological activities, herein, we developed an artificial light-gated ion channel membrane out of conjugated microporous polymers. Through bottom-up design of the monomer molecular structure and by the electropolymerization method, the membrane pore size and thickness were precisely controlled on the molecular level. The obtained membrane exhibited uniform pore size and highly sensitive light-switchable response. The photoisomerization of the polymer chain resulted in a reversible "on and off" light control over the pore size and subsequently led to light-gated ion transport across the membrane for a series of ions including hydrogen, potassium, sodium, lithium, calcium, magnesium, and aluminum ions.

Electropolymerization of robust conjugated microporous polymer membranes for rapid solvent transport and narrow molecular sieving.

Pore size uniformity is one of the most critical parameters in determining membrane separation performance. Recently, a novel type of conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs) has shown uniform pore size and high porosity. However, their brittle nature has prevented them from preparing robust membranes. Inspired by the skin-core architecture of spider silk that offers both high strength and high ductility, herein we report an electropolymerization process to prepare a CMP membrane from a rigid carbazole monomer, 2,2',7,7'-tetra(carbazol-9-yl)-9,9'-spirobifluorene, inside a robust carbon nanotube scaffold. The obtained membranes showed superior mechanical strength and ductility, high surface area, and uniform pore size of approximately 1 nm. The superfast solvent transport and excellent molecular sieving well surpass the performance of most reported polymer membranes. Our method makes it possible to use rigid CMPs membranes in pressure-driven membrane processes, providing potential applications for this important category of polymer materials.