Recent Progress in Semiconductor-Ionic Conductor Nanomaterial as a Membrane for Low-Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Reducing the operating temperature of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) to 300–600 °C is a great challenge for the development of SOFC. Among the extensive research and development (R&D) efforts that have been done on lowering the operating temperature of SOFCs, nanomaterials have played a critical role in improving ion transportation in electrolytes and facilitating electrochemical catalyzation of the electrodes. This work reviews recent progress in lowering the temperature of SOFCs by using semiconductor-ionic conductor nanomaterial, which is typically a composition of semiconductor and ionic conductor, as a membrane. The historical development, as well as the working mechanism of semiconductor-ionic membrane fuel cell (SIMFC), is discussed. Besides, the development in the application of nanostructured pure ionic conductors, semiconductors, and nanocomposites of semiconductors and ionic conductors as the membrane is highlighted. The method of using nano-structured semiconductor-ionic conductors as a membrane has been proved to successfully exhibit a significant enhancement in the ionic conductivity and power density of SOFCs at low temperatures and provides a new way to develop low-temperature SOFCs.

A stretchable and adhesive ionic conductor based on polyacrylic acid and deep eutectic solvents

Hydrogels are a widely used ionic conductor in on-skin electronic and iontronic devices. However, hydrogels dehydrate in the open air and freeze at low temperatures, limiting their real applications when they are attached on skin or exposed to low temperatures. Polymer-ionic liquid gels can overcome these two obstacles, but synthetic ionic liquids are expensive and toxic. In this work, we present an ionic conductor based on polyacrylic acid (PAAc) and deep eutectic solvents (DESs) that well addresses the aforementioned challenges. We polymerize acrylic acid in DESs to get the PAAc–DES gel, which exhibits excellent stretchability (> 1000%), high electrical conductivity (1.26 mS cm−1), high adhesion to the skin (~ 100 N m−1), as well as good anti-drying and anti-freezing properties. We also demonstrate that the PAAc-DES gel can be used as an on-skin electrode to record the surface electromyographic signal with high signal quality, or as a transparent stretchable electrode in iontronic devices that can work at –20 °C. We believe that the PAAc–DES gels are an ideal candidate as epidermal electrodes or transparent stretchable electrodes.