Organic Liquid Crystals as Single-Ion Li⁺ Conductors

The development of new materials for tomorrow's electrochemical energy storage technologies, based on thoroughly designed molecular architectures is at the forefront of materials research. In this line, we report herein the development of a new class of organic lithium-ion battery electrolytes, thermotropic liquid crystalline single-ion conductors, for which the single-ion charge transport is decoupled from the molecular dynamics (i. e., obeys Arrhenius-type conductivity) just like in inorganic (single-)ion conductors. Focusing on an in-depth understanding of the structure-to-transport interplay and the demonstration of the proof-of-concept, we provide also strategies for their further development, as illustrated by the introduction of additional ionic groups to increase the charge carrier density, which results in a substantially enhanced ionic conductivity especially at lower temperatures.