TY - JOUR A1 - Shirshova, N. A1 - Bismarck, A. A1 - Carreyette, S. A1 - Fontana, Q.P.V. A1 - Greenhalgh, E.S. A1 - Jacobsson, P. A1 - Johansson, P. A1 - Marczewski, M.J. A1 - Kalinka, Gerhard A1 - Kucernak, A.R.J. A1 - Scheers, J. A1 - Shaffer, M.S.P. A1 - Steinke, J.H.G. A1 - Wienrich, Malte T1 - Structural supercapacitor electrolytes based on bicontinuous ionic liquid-epoxy resin systems N2 - 'Structural electrolytes' retain the desirable mechanical characteristics of structural (epoxy) resins whilst introducing sufficient ionic conductivity to operate as electrolytes in electrochemical devices. Here, a series of ionic liquid–epoxy resin composites were prepared to identify the optimum system microstructure required to achieve a high level of multifunctionality. The ionic conductivity, mechanical properties, thermal stability and morphology of the cured epoxy based structural electrolytes were studied as a function of phase composition for three fully formulated high performance structural epoxy systems. At only 30 wt% of structural resin and 70 wt% of ionic liquid based electrolyte, stiff monolithic plaques with thicknesses of 2–3 mm were obtained with a room temperature ionic conductivity of 0.8 mS cm-1 and a Young's modulus of 0.2 GPa. This promising performance can be attributed to a long characteristic length scale spinodal microstructure, suggesting routes to further optimisation in the future. KW - Epoxy KW - Ionic liquid KW - Supercapacitor PY - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c3ta13163g SN - 2050-7496 SN - 2050-7488 VL - 1 IS - 48 SP - 15300 EP - 15309 PB - RSC CY - London [u.a.] AN - OPUS4-29735 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Greenhalgh, E.S. A1 - Ankersen, J. A1 - Asp, L. E. A1 - Bismarck, A. A1 - Fontana, Q.P.V. A1 - Houlle, M. A1 - Kalinka, Gerhard A1 - Kucernak, A. A1 - Mistry, M. A1 - Nguyen, S. A1 - Qian, H. A1 - Shaffer, M.S.P. A1 - Shirshova, N. A1 - Steinke, J.H.G. A1 - Wienrich, Malte T1 - Mechanical, electrical and microstructural characterisation of multifunctional structural power composites N2 - Multifunctional composites which can fulfil more than one role within a system have attracted considerable interest. This work focusses on structural supercapacitors which simultaneously carry mechanical load whilst storing/delivering electrical energy. Critical mechanical properties (in-plane shear and in-plane compression performance) of two monofunctional and four multifunctional materials were characterised, which gave an insight into the relationships between these properties, the microstructures and fracture processes. The reinforcements included baseline T300 fabric, which was then either grafted or sized with carbon nanotubes, whilst the baseline matrix was MTM57, which was blended with ionic liquid and lithium salt (two concentrations) to imbue multifunctionality. The resulting composites exhibited a high degree of matrix heterogeneity, with the ionic liquid phase preferentially forming at the fibres, resulting in poor matrix-dominated properties. However, fibre-dominated properties were not depressed. Thus, it was demonstrated that these materials can now offer weight savings over conventional monofunctional systems when under modest loading. KW - Carbon fibres KW - Functional composites KW - Mechanical properties KW - Elastic properties KW - Fractography PY - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/0021998314554125 SN - 0021-9983 SN - 1530-793X SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Sage CY - London AN - OPUS4-34567 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -