Sustainable Responsive Hybrid Ionic Liquid-Polymer Gel Electrolyte Materials

全球能源消耗每天都在以天文数字的速度增长。2021年，全球用电量为176,431太瓦时，是1982年用电量的两倍多，是1950年用电量的6倍多。虽然可再生能源的使用量近年来一直在增加，但它仍然只占我们能源消费的16%左右，预计到2040年可再生能源将只占全球消费的20%左右。目前，可再生能源，特别是风能和太阳能发电的最大障碍是电力生产固有的间歇性，以及缺乏可扩展的电能储存方法。尽管如此，在能量捕获和能量存储方面的研发努力仍然存在不匹配。现有的储能设备是通过多个繁琐的加工步骤组装的，通常使用易燃溶剂和热稳定性和化学稳定性较差的化石燃料衍生材料。因此，有必要确定可持续能源储存的新解决方案。此外，人们迫切需要可再生原料产生的材料来取代目前在世界各地使用的化石燃料衍生产品。值得注意的是，目前只有约1%的聚合物和塑料材料来自可再生资源。该项目的目标是开发安全、可靠、可持续和具有商业意义的下一代响应性凝胶电解质材料，以促进更好的绿色储能解决方案。我们将创造定制的功能性、可再生聚合物，这些聚合物具有独特的材料特性，与目前使用的现有材料相比，使它们成为大量实际应用的极佳选择。当这些独特的聚合物与离子液体结合在一起时，它们可以形成称为离子凝胶的离子液体-聚合物凝胶电解质-这些离子凝胶不仅是更环保的凝胶电解质，而且具有增强的、响应的机械性能，在燃料和太阳能电池、晶体管、致动器和电池电解液中有更广泛的应用范围。这一变革性的研究计划将提供新的可持续、反应灵敏的离子凝胶材料，聚合物含量最低(低于3%w/w)，使用新型嵌段共聚物溶液自组装策略实现，重要的是通过更绿色的一锅工艺原位形成离子凝胶，显著提高这些离子凝胶制备路线的工业可行性。该项目开发的离子凝胶将解决未来几年在未充分利用可再生能源方面的重大缺陷，从而为英国到2050年实现温室气体净零排放做出贡献。鉴于对可持续能源储存解决方案的迫切需求，正如联合国关于负担得起的清洁能源的可持续发展目标7所承认的那样，拟议的研究是及时和有影响的。

Global energy consumption is rising daily at an astronomical rate. In 2021, we used 176,431 TWh worldwide, which was more than double the amount consumed in 1982 and over six times that used in 1950. Whilst the use of renewable energy has been increasing in recent years, it still only accounts for ca. 16% of our energy consumption, and it is projected that renewables will account for only ca. 20% of global consumption in 2040. Currently, the biggest barrier to the uptake of renewable energy, particularly wind and solar electricity, is the inherent intermittency of the power production and the lack of scalable methods of storing electrical energy. Despite this, there is still a mismatch between the R&D efforts on energy capture and energy storage. Existing energy storage devices are assembled via multiple laborious processing steps and typically employ flammable solvents and fossil fuel-derived materials with poor thermal and chemical stability. Hence, there is a need to identify new solutions for sustainable energy storage. Together with this, materials generated from renewable feedstocks are desperately required to displace fossil fuel-derived products currently used around the world. Strikingly, only ca. 1% of all current polymer and plastic materials are made from renewable resources.The aim of this project is to develop safe, reliable, sustainable and commercially relevant next generation responsive gel electrolyte materials which will facilitate better green energy storage solutions. We will create bespoke functional, renewable polymers that possess unique material properties which make them excellent choices for a plethora of practical applications compared to existing materials currently used. When these unique polymers are combined with ionic liquids, they can form hybrid ionic liquid-polymer gel electrolytes called ionogels - these ionogels are not only more environmentally friendly gel electrolytes but they have enhanced, responsive mechanical properties with a broader scope of applications in fuel and solar cells, transistors, actuators and battery electrolytes. This transformative research programme will deliver new sustainable, responsive ionogel materials with minimal polymer loading (less than 3% w/w), achieved using novel block copolymer solution self-assembly strategies and importantly via greener one-pot processes for in situ ionogel formation, significantly enhancing the industrial viability of these ionogel preparation routes.The ionogels developed in this project will address the significant shortcomings in the underutilisation of renewable energy in the coming years and will thus contribute to the UK's drive to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Given the desperate need for sustainable energy storage solutions, as recognised by the UN with Sustainable Development Goal 7 on affordable and clean energy, the proposed research is timely and impactful.