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 () and Andrew I. Cooper ()
Additional contact information
Ming Liu: University of Liverpool
Linjiang Chen: University of Liverpool
Scott Lewis: University of Liverpool
Samantha Y. Chong: University of Liverpool
Marc A. Little: University of Liverpool
Tom Hasell: University of Liverpool
Iain M. Aldous: University of Liverpool
Craig M. Brown: Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Martin W. Smith: Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Porton Down
Carole A. Morrison: School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh
Laurence J. Hardwick: University of Liverpool
Andrew I. Cooper: University of Liverpool

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2016
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms12750 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms12750

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12750

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().