Collaboration between CA2DM and NUS Chemistry unveils new application of 2D electrolytes in electrochemistry

The teams of Professors Guillermo C. Bazan, Konstantin Novoselov and Antonio H. Castro Neto discovered that the association between a negatively charged polyelectrolyte (1D) and a positively charged 2D electrolyte can produce a conjugated structure with enhanced pseudocapacitive properties.

Differently from their seminal paper on 2D electrolytes (Advanced Materials 2021, 25, 2100442) where they reversibly changed a 2D electrolyte from a flat sheet (2D) to a rolled-up scroll (1D), in this work a 1D/2D association was used, allowing the improvement in cycling stability, specific capacitance, and working voltage window in a well-known conjugated polyelectrolyte (CPE-K). The opposite charges between polyelectrolyte and 2D electrolyte produce non-covalent cross-links that form a mechanically robust network.

Their exciting discovery, published in Advanced Electronic Materials (https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.202100942), not only expands the use of 2D electrolytes to electrochemistry, but also unveils a new and simple method to obtain pseudocapacitors with enhanced properties.