title: Liquid crystal self-assembly of halloysite nanotubes in ionic liquids: a novel soft nanocomposite ionogel electrolyte with high anisotropic ionic conductivity and thermal stability.
abstract: We report a novel class of liquid crystalline (LC) nanohybrid ionogels fabricated via self-assembly of natural halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) in ionic liquids (ILs). The obtained ionogels are very stable and nonvolatile and show LC phases over a wide temperature range. Remarkably, the nanocomposite ionogels exhibit high anisotropic ionic conductivity after shear, and their room temperature ionic conductivity can reach 3.8 × 10(-3) S cm(-1) for aligned nanotubes perpendicular to the electrode even when the HNTs content increases to 40 wt%, which is 380 times higher than that obtained for aligned nanotubes parallel to the electrode, which is 1.0 × 10(-5) S cm(-1). Crucially, the obtained LC nanocomposite ionogels have very high thermal stability, which can sustain 400 °C thermal treatment. The findings will promote the development of novel nanocomposite ionogel electrolytes with faster ion transport and larger anisotropic conductivity.
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry & Environmental Science, Hebei University, Baoding, Hebei Province 071002, P. R. China. songhongzan@iccas.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Ningning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry & Environmental Science, Hebei University, Baoding, Hebei Province 071002, P. R. China. songhongzan@iccas.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Yulin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry & Environmental Science, Hebei University, Baoding, Hebei Province 071002, P. R. China. songhongzan@iccas.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaomeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry & Environmental Science, Hebei University, Baoding, Hebei Province 071002, P. R. China. songhongzan@iccas.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Hongzan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Song