New Materials for Energy Capture and Conversion: Ionic Liquid-derived Conducting Polymers.

固有导电聚合物（ICP）在广泛的电化学装置中具有应用，包括用于人造肌肉的致动器和用于利用太阳能的光伏电池。在这些装置中使用离子液体作为电解质大大增加了ICP的稳定性和可循环性。我们的初步工作表明，离子液体溶剂在ICP的合成结果与显着不同的形态和改善的电子性能的材料。离子液体将用于制备具有增强的电气和机械性能的ICP，并将基于这些新材料开发原型光伏和致动器设备。

Inherently conducting polymers (ICPs) have applications in a wide range of electrochemical devices including actuators, for artificial muscles, and photovoltaic cells for harnessing solar energy. Use of an ionic liquid as the electrolyte within these devices greatly increases the stability and cyclability of the ICP. Our preliminary work shows that an ionic liquid solvent in the synthesis of ICPs results in materials with dramatically different morphologies and improved electronic properties. Ionic liquids will be used to prepare ICPs with enhanced electrical and mechanical properties and prototype photovoltaic and actuator devices will be developed based on these new materials.