Abstract
Highly efficient proton conductors, polyoxometalate-poly(ethylene glycol) (POM-PEG) hybrid nanocomposites, have been synthesized by encapsulating a single PEG chain inside the 1D nanochannel defined by the frameworks of POMs. By employing two types of neutron scattering techniques complemented by thermal analysis, we prove that in a nanochannel a single PEG chain stays as a distorted helix. More importantly, we reveal that the PEG segments perform a localized longitudinal random walk and quantitatively show the strong correlation between the local motion of PEG and the macroscopic proton conduction of the material. On the basis of these spatial-temporal characteristics, a microscopic picture for the proton conduction process of POM-PEG hybrid materials is proposed.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 5772-5777 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue number | 19 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 4 2018 |
Funding
The research performed at BL-2 (BASIS)32 and BL-16B (VISION)33 at ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source was sponsored by the Scientific User Facilities Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy. The sample thermal analysis was conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility. Oak Ridge National Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under contract no. DE-AC05-00OR22725. P.Y. is grateful for the support of the Program for Guangdong Introducing Innovative and Entrepreneurial Teams (no. 2016ZT06C322) and the Thousand Talents Plan for Young Professionals from the Chinese Government. The research at Tsinghua University was supported by the Development Funding of Department of Engineering Physics (no. 110211012). ORNL's Spallation Neutron Source was sponsored by the Scientific User Facilities Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences U.S. Department of Energy. The sample thermal analysis was conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility. Oak Ridge National Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under contract no. DE-AC05-00OR22725. P.Y. is grateful for the support of the Program for Guangdong Introducing Innovative and Entrepreneurial Teams (no. 2016ZT06C322) and the Thousand Talents Plan for Young Professionals from the Chinese Government. The research at Tsinghua University was supported by the Development Funding of Department of Engineering Physics (no. 110211012).
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Department of Engineering Physics | |
| Office of Basic Energy Sciences | |
| Office of Basic Energy Sciences U.S. Department of Energy | |
| program for Guangdong Introducing Innovative and Entrepreneurial Teams | |
| Scientific User Facilities Division | |
| Thousand Talents Plan for Young Professionals | |
| U.S. Department of Energy | DE-AC05-00OR22725 |
| Office of Science | |
| Oak Ridge National Laboratory | |
| Guangdong Innovative and Entrepreneurial Research Team Program | 2016ZT06C322 |
| Department of Engineering Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison | 110211012 |
| Japan Society for the Promotion of Science | 16K05742 |
| Recruitment Program of Global Experts |