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A Water Dissolvable Electrolyte with an Ionic Liquid for Eco‐Friendly Electronics
Author(s) -
Yamada Shunsuke,
Toshiyoshi Hiroshi
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.201800937
Subject(s) - electrolyte , ionic liquid , materials science , ionic conductivity , vinyl alcohol , ionic bonding , capacitance , ion , chemical engineering , polymer , electrode , nanotechnology , chemistry , composite material , organic chemistry , catalysis , engineering
A water‐dissolvable electrolyte is developed by combining an ionic liquid (IL) with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), which decays over time by contact with water. An IL generally consists of two species of ions (anion and cation), and forms an electrical double layer (EDL) of a large electrostatic capacitance due to the ions accumulated in the vicinity of a conductive electrode when voltage is applied. In a similar manner, the ionic gel developed in this work forms an EDL due to the ions suspended in the conjugated polymer network while maintaining the gel form. Test measurements show a large capacitance of 13 µF cm −2 within the potential window of the IL. The ionic gel shows an electrical conductance of 20 µS cm −1 due to the ionic conduction, which depends on the weight ratio of the IL with respect to the polymer. The developed ionic gel dissolves into water in 16 h. Potential application includes the electrolyte in disposable electronics such as distributed sensors and energy harvesters that are supposed to be harmless to environment.