Abstract
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Managing carbon dioxide (CO2) released from large-scale industrial
processes is of great importance, yet there remain
significant technical challenges. Herein, the fabrication of 1-
mm-thick solid-state electrochemical devices based on poly-
(ionic liquid) ionogels with embedded electrodes capable of
both adsorption and electrochemical reduction of CO2 is reported.
The ionogels are prepared via radical polymerization
and chemical crosslinking of a vinyl imidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonimide
ionic liquid monomer in the presence of
additional ionic liquids (ILs) that act as swelling agents and
enhance ionic conductivity. The effects of the ILs concentration
and the degree of crosslinking on the mechanical properties,
conductivity, and CO2 adsorption of the ionogels are
investigated. The ionogels are shown to have ionic conductivities
as high as 0.6 mScm@1. The results of quartz crystal microbalance
analyses demonstrates that the CO2 adsorption of
the ionogels reaches up to &22 mgg@1, which is 10-fold
higher than that of their native ionic liquid. Moreover, the
ionogels are easily recoverable after CO2 adsorption. The
flexibility, conductivity, and CO2 capture capacity of this
system can be controlled by the crosslinking ratio and ionic
liquid content of the ionogels. This electrochemical device
has the potential to be used in large scale plants for capturing
CO2 for further electrochemical reactions.