ORNL Develops Polymer Electrolyte with Superfast Ion Transport

New material could enable safer, more efficient solid-state batteries and other energy technologies.

Apr. 10, 2026 at 2:44am

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A highly textured abstract painting in soft, earthy tones of green, brown, and blue, featuring sweeping geometric arcs, concentric circles, and precise botanical spirals, conceptually representing the complex molecular structure and dynamic ion flow of a new polymer electrolyte material.A new polymer electrolyte developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory enables superfast ion transport, a key breakthrough for solid-state batteries and other energy technologies.Oak Ridge Today

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have created a polymer electrolyte material that enables superfast transport of ions, a key breakthrough for solid-state batteries and other energy storage and conversion technologies. By carefully controlling the chemical composition, the team developed a polymer with zwitterionic groups that self-organize into channel-like structures to allow ions to move with minimal resistance.

Why it matters

Solid-state batteries using polymer electrolytes offer advantages over traditional liquid electrolytes, including improved safety, faster charging, and more compact designs. However, achieving high ion mobility in solid polymer electrolytes has been a major challenge. This new ORNL material represents a significant step towards realizing the potential of solid-state batteries and other energy applications that rely on effective ion transport.

The details

The ORNL polymer electrolyte contains polar segments that favor the inclusion of lithium salts and strongly enhance the mobility of ions. The key was the careful tuning of the polymer structure by adding precise amounts of zwitterionic molecular groups, which carry both positive and negative charges. This allowed the ions to assemble into pockets that connected into channel-like structures, enabling the ions to hop back and forth with minimal resistance. Researchers found the sweet spot was around 80% of the polymer units functionalized with zwitterionic groups.

  • The research was published in April 2026 in the journal Materials Today.
  • The work was performed as part of the DOE Energy Frontier Research Center known as the Fast and Cooperative Ion Transport in Polymer-Based Materials (FaCT) Center.

The players

Catalin Gainaru

An R&D staff scientist in ORNL's Chemical Sciences Division.

Tomonori Saito

An ORNL distinguished researcher in the Chemical Sciences Division.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

A U.S. Department of Energy research laboratory located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Department of Energy

The United States Department of Energy, a cabinet-level department of the United States Government concerned with policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material.

FaCT Center

The DOE Energy Frontier Research Center focused on understanding how to design novel polymers that change the paradigm of ion transport.

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What they’re saying

“Researchers around the world are focusing on unlocking the potential of polymer electrolytes because they have a lot of advantages over the conventional liquid electrolytes.”

— Catalin Gainaru, R&D staff scientist, ORNL Chemical Sciences Division

“The goal of the FaCT EFRC is to fully understand how to design novel polymers that change the paradigm of ion transport.”

— Tomonori Saito, ORNL distinguished researcher, Chemical Sciences Division

“It's hard to predict all the technologies that could leverage this discovery. Anything that needs an impermeable barrier layer, but let ions move freely across it, is a potential application.”

— Tomonori Saito, ORNL distinguished researcher, Chemical Sciences Division

What’s next

Researchers plan to build on this early-stage research with additional investigations into the fundamental mechanisms that enable the superionic nature of the polymer. Modeling and simulations using ORNL supercomputing resources as well as robotic autonomous chemistry coupled with AI will help understand what drives this performance, and neutron scattering studies are planned at the Spallation Neutron Source to observe the interactions at the molecular level.

The takeaway

This new polymer electrolyte material developed at ORNL represents a significant breakthrough in enabling fast ion transport, a key challenge for solid-state batteries and other energy technologies. By carefully controlling the chemical structure, the researchers have created a path towards safer, more efficient energy storage and conversion systems.