NMR investigation of water and methanol transport in sulfonated polyareylenethioethersulfones for fuel cell applications

We report an investigation of water and methanol transport in polymer electrolyte membranes based on highly sulfonated polyarelenethioethersulfones (SPTES) for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) applications. Measurements of both water and methanol self-diffusion coefficients of SPTES polymer as well as in a reference sample of Nafion-117 equilibrated in 2 M methanol solution have been carried out, using the pulsed gradient spin echo technique, over a temperature range of 20-140 °C. The selectivity of the membrane, defined as (DOH/DCH3), decreased from 6 to 2.4 as temperature increased from 20 to 140 °C in SPTES sample while in Nafion, the value decreased from 3.2 to 1.4 as temperature increased from 20 to 100 °C. These results indicate significantly lower fuel molecular permeability in SPTES compared to that of Nafion. All results suggest high-temperature stability in these materials, offering the possibility of fuel cell operation at temperatures >120 °C. High pressure NMR diffusion measurements were also carried out for three different water contents (between 20 and 55 wt.%) in a static field gradient in order to get supplemental information regarding water transport in SPTES materials. The calculated activation volume increased from 1.54 to 8.40 cm3/mol as the water content decreased from 55 to 20%. This behavior is qualitatively similar to previously reported results for Nafion-117.