Besides the superabsorbency, PANa can well retain its water content. These validate its application as a high-performance polyelectrolyte for both energy storage and conversion technologies.

With reference back to FIG. 1, the fabrication of the polymer material 100 may involve a solution polymerization process for synthesizing the PANa hydrogel. This includes polymerization of sodium polyacrylate to obtain the polymer 102 or the PANa hydrogel and to facilitate the absorption of ionic solution in the PANa hydrogel so as to obtain the ion-conducting and flexible material. The ion-conducting PANa hydrogel 106 may be further included in a battery device.

Preferably, the polymerization of sodium polyacrylate involves mixing sodium hydroxide solution with acrylic acid monomers. Acrylic acid (AA) monomers may be neutralized by NaOH and then polymerized to form PANa by means of ammonium persulfate (APS) as the initiator, subsequently, the a free-radical polymerization process may take place and finally a dried PANa hydrogel may be obtained.

In addition, the fabrication process includes soaking the polymer 102 in an ionic solution, such as zinc acetate and potassium hydroxide. The selection of the ionic solution(s) is based on different types or composition of the desired battery devices. For example, a zinc-based battery requires zinc ions in the fabricated electrolyte, therefore a solution of a zinc-based salt is used.