Five-for-five: Highlights from five recent noteworthy papers on ionogels

This perspective—which arose from the “Distinguished Invited Speaker” series at the Materials Research Society Spring 2024 meeting—highlights five recent papers about ionogels. The title “Five-for-Five” refers to the dedication of a figure for each of the five papers. Ionogels are crosslinked polymer networks swollen with ionic liquids. Ionic liquids are interesting because they have ionic conductivity, negligible vapor pressure, high thermal and electrochemical stability. There are also many different ionic liquids to chose from. Thus, as we highlight here, it is possible to vary the concentration and composition of ionogels to make materials that are: (1) hydrophobic, (2) highly adhesive, (3) tough, (4) glassy, or (5) 3D printable. We hope this article will clearly illustrate several unique and tunable properties that are possible with ionogels while inspiring future research and applications of these remarkable materials. Graphical abstract: (Figure presented.)