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Nanoionics: ion transport and electrochemical storage in confined systems

Nature Materials volume 4, pages 805–815 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

The past two decades have shown that the exploration of properties on the nanoscale can lead to substantially new insights regarding fundamental issues, but also to novel technological perspectives. Simultaneously it became so fashionable to decorate activities with the prefix 'nano' that it has become devalued through overuse. Regardless of fashion and prejudice, this article shows that the crystallizing field of 'nanoionics' bears the conceptual and technological potential that justifies comparison with the well-acknowledged area of nanoelectronics. Demonstrating this potential implies both emphasizing the indispensability of electrochemical devices that rely on ion transport and complement the world of electronics, and working out the drastic impact of interfaces and size effects on mass transfer, transport and storage. The benefits for technology are expected to lie essentially in the field of room-temperature devices, and in particular in artificial self-sustaining structures to which both nanoelectronics and nanoionics might contribute synergistically.

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Figure 1: Electrochemical devices relying on ionic and mixed electronically and ionically conducting solids enable the transformation of chemical energy or information into electrical energy or information (or vice versa).
Figure 2: Ion redistribution at equilibrium.
Figure 3: Size effects classified according to their contribution to the total chemical potential μ̃ (see the text).
Figure 4: Different dimensionalities of interfacially controlled systems in solid-state electronics and ionics.
Figure 5: Reversibility of the redox reaction Li2O + Ru ↔ Li + RuO2 in the nanocomposite upon Li extraction and incorporation77.
Figure 6: Integration of subfunctions in functional solids.
Figure 7: The nano-integration of ionic and electronic 'organs' such as sensors, actuators, computers and fuel cells or batteries results in tiny artificial autonomous systems.

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The author is indebted to the Max Planck Society and acknowledges support in the framework of the ENERCHEM project.

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Maier, J. Nanoionics: ion transport and electrochemical storage in confined systems. Nature Mater 4, 805–815 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1513

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