Effect of silica pore structure on the conduction behavior of CsHSO4/SiO2 composite proton electrolytes

The transport properties of high-conductivity composite proton electrolytes (CsHSO4)(1-x)/(SiO2)(x) were studied in the range x = 0-0.8. The composites were prepared using silica powders with various specific surface areas (S = 100-580 m(2)/g) and porosities (V-pore = 10(-6) m(3)/g, R-pore 14-1000 Angstrom). The low-temperature conductivity was demonstrated to depend on the material composition: at the optimum silica content, x = 0.5-0.7, it was 2-2.5 orders of magnitude higher than that of the host CsHSO4 electrolyte. The low-temperature conductivity was dependent on the mean pore size of SiO2 and showed the maximum increase at pore sizes from 35 to 100 Angstrom.