Novel acid–base molecule-enhanced blends/copolymers for fuel cell applications

A series of acid–base molecule-enhanced composite membranes are successfully prepared. The composite membranes are composed of a sulfonated poly(aryl ether ketone) (6FSPEEK) as an acidic component, and of aminated poly(aryl ether ketone) containing a naphthyl group (AmPEEKK-NA) as a basic component. The composite membranes exhibit obviously improved thermal, oxidative and dimensional stability. Especially, these composite membranes possess excellent tensile properties both in the dry and wet state. The proton conductivities of these membranes are higher than 2.45 × 10−2 S cm−1 at room temperature and higher than 6.0 × 10−2 S cm−1 at 80 °C. The morphology of the membranes is studied in detail by SEM and AFM. All the data prove that both composite and aminated/sulfonated copolymer membranes may be potential proton exchange membrane for fuel cell applications.