Role of Nanostructures in Polymer Electrolytes for Energy Storage and Delivery

Abstract

This chapter describes recent developments in polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs) for fuel cells and lithium batteries. The current progress in advancing transport properties of PEMs over the last five years will be summarized. It is beyond the scope of this chapter to give an extensive review of PEMs and we will focus on the morphology effects on transport properties of PEMs; how parameters such as self-assembled nanostructures, domain sizes, and domain orientations affect conductivities of PEMs will be presented. Challenges in obtaining well-defined morphologies and strategies to access improved transport properties will also be addressed. The contents of this chapter will illuminate the structure-transport relationships in PEMs to suggest promising avenues for designing next-generation polymers for energy storage and conversion technologies.