POS4-1483
Developing a Universal Approach to Nanostructured Ionic Materials: From Discovery to Scaleable Production
Topic
S4. Colloids, Interfaces, and Molecular Assemblies for Functional Soft Materials
When and Where
Oct 1, 2026
08:30 - 09:30
Room 301 (Grand Ballroom)
Session Chairs
Jinkee HONG
Ki Su KIM
Presenter(s)
James Jennings (University of Graz)
Co-Author(s)
Abstract
Materials comprising nanoscale ionic domains find widespread use as membranes for separation, energy storage and conversion devices, and catalysis. However, targeting specific nanostructured morphologies with defined pore size and chemistry whilst maintaining other structural parameters such as mechanical and chemical stability creates a challenge for conventional polymer synthesis. This task becomes increasingly difficult when moving into sub-5 nm regime of domain sizes, where self-assembling systems such as block copolymers reach their thermodynamic limits.
We are developing a universal method to fabricate materials with anionic and cationic nanopores with dimensions below 5 nm. The use of diverse and commercially-available building blocks, and universal fabrication processes to prepare materials in thin film formats, enables a powerful high-throughput approach to materials discovery and design. In addition to the varied pore chemistry, the nanostructured morphology can also be tuned via the chemical building blocks and processing conditions. The route to nanostructure formation, which can be imparted during or after film formation, alludes to some unexpected reaction-induced self-assembly pathways. This approach has been optimised for free-standing films as thin as 12 µm, which exhibit thermally- and solvent-resistant nanostructures. Meanwhile, systematically studying the processing parameters has facilitated the scaling up of material batch fabrication to A4 size.
This material platform demonstrates potential for screening structure-property relationships that provide insight into fundamental physicochemical processes of material self-assembly, whilst the resulting materials have diverse potential applications in energy systems and beyond. The high-throughput approach and modular platform also open up opportunities for AI-driven optimisation, which could further expedite the design of useful nanostructured soft materials
We are developing a universal method to fabricate materials with anionic and cationic nanopores with dimensions below 5 nm. The use of diverse and commercially-available building blocks, and universal fabrication processes to prepare materials in thin film formats, enables a powerful high-throughput approach to materials discovery and design. In addition to the varied pore chemistry, the nanostructured morphology can also be tuned via the chemical building blocks and processing conditions. The route to nanostructure formation, which can be imparted during or after film formation, alludes to some unexpected reaction-induced self-assembly pathways. This approach has been optimised for free-standing films as thin as 12 µm, which exhibit thermally- and solvent-resistant nanostructures. Meanwhile, systematically studying the processing parameters has facilitated the scaling up of material batch fabrication to A4 size.
This material platform demonstrates potential for screening structure-property relationships that provide insight into fundamental physicochemical processes of material self-assembly, whilst the resulting materials have diverse potential applications in energy systems and beyond. The high-throughput approach and modular platform also open up opportunities for AI-driven optimisation, which could further expedite the design of useful nanostructured soft materials
