Novel sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) with pendant benzimidazole groups as a proton exchange membrane for direct methanol fuel cells

A series of sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone)s bearing pendant carboxylic acid groups (C-SPEEKs) have been prepared and subsequently react with 1,2-diaminobenzene to obtain sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone)s with pendant benzimidazole groups (BI-SPEEKs). The expected structures of the sulfonated copolymers are confirmed by 1H NMR. The resulting copolymers all show good thermal and mechanical properties. It should be noted that the introduction of benzimidazole groups into the copolymer improves its thermal and oxidative stability obviously. Meanwhile, compared to C-SPEEK, BI-SPEEK membranes show much lower water uptake and methanol permeability with the same sulfonation degree (DS). In order to study morphological changes of C-SPEEK and BI-SPEEK membranes, hydrophilic domains sizes from an atomic force microscopy (AFM) are investigated.