Kinetic Ionic Diode: Integrating PEC into Polycation and Polyanion Ionoelastomer Heterojunctions
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초록
내용
Polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs) are the self-assembly of oppositely charged polymers, creating non-covalent crosslinks between polyions. The following crosslinks can be screened by salt doping levels, which leads to the varying behavior of PEC ranging from an ion-conducting elastic liquid to a non-conducting glassy solid. To electrically control this transition, we created a tri-layer structure with a PEC film sandwiched between polycation and polyanion ionoelastomers (IEs). Applying a forward bias injects ions into the PEC film, softening the film and allowing ionic current to flow. Conversely, applying a reverse bias removes ions from PEC, solidifying it and blocking current, thus functioning as an ionic diode. Notably, through electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis, we discover that a heterojunction of IEs without the PEC film also acts as a diode using the same working mechanism, revealing that PEC formation at the interface is the key to rectifying ion current.