Proton Conductive Nanosheets Formed by Alignment of Metallo-Supramolecular Polymers

Linear Fe(II)-based metallo-supramolecular polymer chains were precisely aligned by the simple replacement of the counteranion with an N,N'-bis(4-benzosulfonic acid)perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylbisimide (PSA) dianion, which linked the polymer chains strongly. A parallel alignment of the polymer chains promoted by the PSA dianions yielded nanosheets formation. The nanosheets' structure was analyzed with FESEM, HRTEM, UV-vis, and XRD in detail. The nanosheets showed more than 5 times higher proton conductivity than the original polymer due to the smooth ionic conduction through the aligned polymer chains. The complex impedance plot with two semicircles also suggested the presence of grain boundaries in the polymer nanosheets.