Shear Oriented Ionic Self-Assemblies for optimized ion transport – SESAME

SESAME is a basic research project dedicated to the exploration of essential properties of functional soft matter such as the impact of confinement on the ion transport. The objective is to quantify on relevant spatio-temporal scales, the transport of ions confined in nanochannels (of variable size, topology and dimensionality) arranged in a lattice having a long-range order in order to optimize ionic transport. To this end, we will study, through a multi-scale and multidisciplinary approach, the impact of shearing conditions (velocity and temperature) on the orientation (i.e., in-plane or out-of-plane) and long-range order of single-conductor ion channel models formed by self-assembled block copolymers (BCPs) specifically devised to have fast ion conduction. We will also establish a parallel between the chemical properties of the BCP chains (chemical nature, size and sequence of the blocks, and choice of the cation (i.e., H+, Li+, Na+, K+)) and the physical properties obtained such as the size and morphology of the ionic nanochannels or even the ionic conduction performances of the material. The strong originality of SESAME lies in the study of the structure-dynamic relationships over ten space-time decades by coupling advanced techniques such as: small angle neutron scattering (nanoscale), ionic conductivity measurements (quasi-elastic neutron scattering (molecular scale), molecular dynamic simulations (molecular-nanoscopic scale) and conductivity (micro-macroscopic scale)) under shear in order to reduce the material defectivity. Finally, the methodology envisioned in SESAME will allow to control, predict and optimize the ionic transport in materials within ionic conductive nanochannels that can be used in various applications (including solid electrolytes as well as membranes for biosensors or separators).