High performance blend membranes based on sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) and poly(p-benzimidazole) for PEMFC applications

•Ionically crosslinked blend membranes were prepared using sPES and p-PBI.•Miscibility was originated from specific interactions between acid in sPES and basic amine.•Dimensional, mechanical and thermal stabilities were achieved.

Novel ionically crosslinked blend polymer membranes were developed based on sPES and p-PBI. p-PBI was used as the key component in polymeric blends with sPES to produce stable but yet still conductive and miscible membranes. Specific interactions between the acid moiety and the amine moiety contributed to the miscibility of the sPES–PBI blend polymers in DMSO. The properties of the membranes were better than those of bare membranes, and the conductivity of a 5 wt.% PBI blend membrane exceeded 0.13 S/cm at 80 °C. The influence of the p-PBI content on chemophysical properties of the blend membranes was investigated systematically.

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