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Updated: Feb 3, 2026

From Molecules to Materials: Engineering New Ionic Liquid Crystals Through Halogen Bonding
Published on: March 24, 2018
Metallo-polyelectrolytes as a class of ionic macromolecules for functional materials
Tianyu Zhu1, Ye Sha1, Jing Yan2
1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, 29208, USA.
Abstract:
The fields of soft polymers and macromolecular sciences have enjoyed a unique combination of metals and organic frameworks in the name of metallopolymers or organometallic polymers. When metallopolymers carry charged groups, they form a class of metal-containing polyelectrolytes or metallo-polyelectrolytes. This review identifies the unique properties and functions of metallo-polyelectrolytes compared with conventional organo-polyelectrolytes, in the hope of shedding light on the formation of functional materials with intriguing applications and potential benefits. It concludes with a critical perspective on the challenges and hurdles for metallo-polyelectrolytes, especially experimental quantitative analysis and theoretical modeling of ionic binding.
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