IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v7y2016i1d10.1038_ncomms12750.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Three-dimensional protonic conductivity in porous organic cage solids

Author

Listed:
  • 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)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • 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 & Andrew I. Coo, 2016. "Three-dimensional protonic conductivity in porous organic cage solids," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-9, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms12750
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12750
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms12750
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms12750?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhenyu Yang & Chunyang Yu & Junjie Ding & Lihua Chen & Huiyu Liu & Yangzhi Ye & Pan Li & Jiaolong Chen & Kim Jiayi Wu & Qiang-Yu Zhu & Yu-Quan Zhao & Xiaoning Liu & Xiaodong Zhuang & Shaodong Zhang, 2021. "A class of organic cages featuring twin cavities," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Liangxiao Tan & Jun-Hao Zhou & Jian-Ke Sun & Jiayin Yuan, 2022. "Electrostatically cooperative host-in-host of metal cluster ⊂ ionic organic cages in nanopores for enhanced catalysis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    3. Jinrong Wang & Weibin Lin & Zhuo Chen & Valeriia O. Nikolaeva & Lukman O. Alimi & Niveen M. Khashab, 2024. "Smart touchless human–machine interaction based on crystalline porous cages," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    4. Jing Li & Jizhen Qi & Feng Jin & Fengrui Zhang & Lei Zheng & Lingfei Tang & Rong Huang & Jingjing Xu & Hongwei Chen & Ming Liu & Yejun Qiu & Andrew I. Cooper & Yanbin Shen & Liwei Chen, 2022. "Room temperature all-solid-state lithium batteries based on a soluble organic cage ionic conductor," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms12750. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.