Ion transport of electrolytes determines the performance of many electroactive devices, from fuel cells to batteries to soft mechanical actuators. This dissertation aims to address some fundamental issues regarding ion transport of ion dense electrolytes using electrophoretic NMR and NMR diffusometry.

I first describe the design and fabrication of the first instrumentation capable of reliable ENMR on highly ion-dense electrolytes such as ionic liquids and electrolytes for zinc-air batteries. I design a new electrophoretic NMR sample cell using parallel capillaries to investigate the electrophoretic mobilities of pure ionic liquids. It shows the first study of a highly ion-dense electrolyte with electrophoretic NMR. Then I employ NMR diffusometry and electrophoretic NMR to investigate ion association of pure ionic liquids.

Then I use electrophoretic NMR technique to investigate the electrophoretic mobilities of electrolytes for zinc-air batteries. For Zn2+ salt added dicyanamide (dca) based ionic liquids, I investigate the effects of Zn2+ salt on chemical shift of dca and ion motion. The combination of mobilities measurements and diffusion measurements provides some new insight of ion aggregation.

We explore ion transport of ionic liquids inside the ionic polymer Nafion as a function of hydration level. When ionic liquids diffuse inside ionic polymers, isolated anions diffuse faster (e 4X) than cations at high hydration whereas ion associations result in substantially faster cation diffusion (d 3X) at low hydration inside membranes, revealing prevalent anionic aggregates.

Finally, we compare diffusion activation energy measurements in a hydrated perfluorosulfonate ionomer and aqueous solutions of triflic acid, which provides insight into water transport dynamics on sub-nm lengthscales. And we explore the physical meaning of activation energy, characterizing local intermolecular interactions that occur on the pre-diffusional (~ 1 ps) timescale.