Effects of casting solvent on microstructrue and ionic conductivity of anhydrous sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone)-inoic liquid composite membranes

As the key component of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, the membrane has significant effect on the performance of fuel cells. The commonly used approach for preparation of membrane is solvent casting. In this paper, high temperature polymer electrolyte membranes consisting of sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate were prepared using solvent casting process from N,N-dimethylformamide, N,N-dimethylacetamide, and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone solutions to understand the solvent effect on the nature of formed membranes. It was found that solvents used for casting process strongly affect the microstructure and ionic conductivity of formed membranes. The composite membrane cast from DMF solution has clearly inter-connected ionic clusters with diameters of several hundreds nanometers to about 1.5 μm and exhibits the highest ionic conductivity, reaching 1.04 × 10−2 S cm−1 at 170 °C under anhydrous conditions.

► SPEEK/ionic liquids composite membranes were formed from different casting solvents.
► Well-ordered ionic clusters were observed for composite membrane cast from DMF solvent.
► Composite membrane cast from DMF shows the best ionic conductivity at elevated temperature under anhydrous conditions.