Influences of Structure Disorder and Temperature on Properties of Proton Conductivity in Hydrogen-Bond Molecular Systems

The dynamic properties of proton conductivity along hydrogen-bonded molecular systems, for example, ice crystal, with structure disorder or damping and finite temperatures exposed in an externally applied electric-field have been numerically studied by Runge-Kutta way in our soliton model. The results obtained show that the proton-soliton is very robust against the structure disorder including the fluctuation of the force constant and disorder in the sequence of masses and thermal perturbation and damping of medium, the velocity of its conductivity increases with increasing of the externally applied electric-field and decreasing of the damping coefficient of medium, but the proton-soliton disperses for quite great fluctuation of the ＂force constant and damping coefficient. In the numerical simulation we find that the proton-soliton in our model is thermally stable in a large region of temperature of T ≤ 273 K under influences of damping and externally applied electric-field in ice crvstal. This shows that our model is available and appropriate to ice.

Photogated proton conductivity of ZIF-8 membranes co-modified with graphene quantum dots and polystyrene sulfonate

Smart proton conductive metal-organic framework(MOF) membranes with dynamic remote control over proton conduction show high potential for use in advanced applications, such as sensors and bioprocesses. Here, we report a photoswitchable proton conductive ZIF-8 membrane by coencapsulating polystyrene sulfonate and graphene quantum dots into a ZIF-8 matrix(GQDs-PSS@ZIF-8) via a solidconfined conversion process. The proton conductivity of the GQDs-PSS@ZIF-8 membrane is 6.3 times higher than that of pristine ZIF-8 and can be reversibly switched by light due to photoluminescence quenching and the photothermal conversion effect, which converts light into heat. The local increase in temperature allows water molecules to escape from the porous channels, which cuts off the proton transport pathways and results in a decrease in proton conductivity. The proton conductivity is restored when the light is off owing to regaining water molecules, which act as proton carriers, from the surroundings. The GQDs-PSS@ZIF-8 membrane responds efficiently to light and exhibits an ON/OFF ratio of 12.8. This photogated proton conduction in MOFs has potential for the development and application of MOF-based protonic solids in advanced photoelectric devices.