Ion-conducting structures, devices including ion-conducting structures, and methods for use and fabrication thereof

An ion-conducting structure, comprising:

• a metal-fibril complex formed by one or more elementary nanofibrils, each elementary nanofibril being composed of a plurality of polymer molecular chains with functional groups, each elementary nanofibril having a plurality of metal ions, each metal ion acting as a coordination center between the functional groups of adjacent molecular chains so as to form a respective ion transport channel between the molecular chains,
• wherein the metal-fibril complex comprises a plurality of second ions, each second ion being disposed within a respective one of the ion transport channels so as to be intercalated between the corresponding molecular chains, and
• wherein the metal-fibril complex is a solid-state structure having a conductivity of at least 10−4 S/cm.

A method, comprising:

• (a) forming a metal-fibril complex by immersing a plurality of elementary nanofibrils within an alkaline solution and a plurality of metal ions dissolved therein, each elementary nanofibril being composed of a plurality of polymer molecular chains with functional groups, the immersing being such that hydrogen bonds between adjacent functional groups of the polymer molecular chains are broken so as to expose the functional groups and such that the dissolved metal ions from the alkaline solution form coordination bonds with the exposed functional groups;
• and
• (b) intercalating second ions between adjacent molecular chains of the metal-fibril complex by immersing the metal-fibril complex in a first solution having a plurality of the second ions dissolved therein.