Rational Synthesis of Metallo-Cations Toward Redox- and Alkaline-Stable Metallo-Polyelectrolytes.

Cations are crucial components in emerging functional polyelectrolytes for a myriad of applications. Rapid development in this area necessitates the exploration of new cations with advanced properties. Herein we describe a combination of computational and experimental design of cobaltocene metallo-cations that have distinct electronic and redox properties. One of the direct outcomes on the first synthesis of a complete set of cation derivatives is to discover highly stable cations, which are further integrated to construct metallo-polyelectrolytes as anion-exchange membranes in solid-state alkaline fuel cells. The device performance of these polyelectrolytes under highly basic and oxidative environments is competitive with many organo-polyelectrolytes.