Hydroxide Anion Transport in Covalent Organic Frameworks

Shanshan Tao, Hong Xu, Qing Xu, Yuh Hijikata, Qiuhong Jiang, Stephan Irle, Donglin Jiang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

50 Scopus citations

Abstract

Hydroxide anion transport is essential for alkaline fuel cells, but hydroxide anion has an inherently low conductivity owing to its small diffusion coefficient and high mass. Ordered open channels found in covalent organic frameworks are promising as pathways to enable hydroxide anion transport, but this remains to be explored. Here we report designed synthesis of anionic covalent organic frameworks that promote hydroxide anion transport across the one-dimensional channels. Engineering cationic chains with imidazolium termini onto the pore walls self-assembles a supramolecular interface of single-file hydroxide anion chains in the channels. The frameworks facilitate hydroxide anion transport to achieve an exceptional conductivity of 1.53 × 10-2 S cm-1 at 80 °C, which is 2-6 orders of magnitude higher than those of linear polymers and other porous frameworks. Impedance spectroscopy at different temperatures and studies on deuterated samples reveal that hydroxide anions transport via a proton-exchange hopping mechanism. These results open a way to design framework materials for energy conversions via engineering an anionic interface.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)8970-8975
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of the American Chemical Society
Volume143
Issue number24
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 23 2021

Funding

D.J. acknowledges the MOE tier 1 grant (R-143-000-A71-114) and NUS start-up grant (R-143-000-A28-133). Y.H. acknowledges JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (Coordination Asymmetry), Grant No. JP19H04570. H.X. acknowledges the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52073161) and Tsinghua University-Zhangjiagang Joint Institute for Hydrogen Energy and Lithium-Ion Battery Technology. S.I. acknowledges support by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for DOE under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725. We thank Naohiro Obokata for computing.

FundersFunder number
Tsinghua University-Zhangjiagang Joint Institute for Hydrogen Energy and Lithium-Ion Battery Technology
U.S. Department of EnergyDE-AC05-00OR22725
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Laboratory Directed Research and Development
National University of SingaporeR-143-000-A28-133
Ministry of Education - SingaporeR-143-000-A71-114
Japan Society for the Promotion of ScienceJP19H04570
National Natural Science Foundation of China52073161

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