Proton transport through hydrated chitosan‐based polymer membranes under electric fields

ABSTRACT Proton transport is essential in many areas of chemistry and biology and is especially important in the fields of proton exchange membrane fuel cells and biocompatible, protonic semiconductors. These devices make use of membranes to control the flow of protons for either the generation of energy or to more closely couple electronics and biology. In the present study, we make use of ab initio molecular dynamics simulations, including the effect of applied electric fields, to gain atomistic insight into the intrinsic conductivity of chitosan‐based polymers and demonstrate that chitosan does not act as a significant source of friction for the transport of protons while increasing the number of free ions. Published 2017. † J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2017 , 55 , 1103–1109