Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
5147994 | International Journal of Hydrogen Energy | 2017 | 10 Pages |
Abstract
A novel strategy was proposed to construct a bicontinuous hydrophilic/hydrophobic micro-phase separation structure which is crucial for high hydroxide conductivity and good dimensional stability anion exchange membranes (AEMs). A semi-flexible poly (aryl ether sulfone) containing a flexible aliphatic chain in the polymer backbone with imidazolium cationic group was synthesized by the polycondensation of bis(4-fluorophenyl) sulfone and the self-synthesized 4,4â²-[butane-1,4-diylbis(oxy)] diphenol followed by a two-step functionalization. The corresponding membranes were prepared by solution casting. More continuous hydroxide conducting channels were formed in the semi-flexible polymer membranes compared with the rigid based ones as demonstrated by TEM. As a result, given the same swelling ratio, hydroxide conductivity of the semi-flexible polymer membrane was about 2-fold higher than the one of the rigid polymer based membrane (e.g., 45 vs. 22 mS cmâ1 with the same swelling ratio of 24% at 20 °C). The highest achieved conductivity for the semi-flexible polymer membranes at 60 °C was 93 mS cmâ1, which was much higher those of other random poly (aryl ether sulfone) based imidazolium AEMs (27-81 mS cmâ1). The single cell employing the semi-flexible polymer membrane exhibited a maximum power density of 125 mW cmâ2 which was also higher than those for other random poly (aryl ether sulfone) based imidazolium AEMs (16-105.2 mW cmâ2).
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Chemistry
Electrochemistry
Authors
Baolin Zhao, Gaohong He, Issam El Hamouti, Li Gao, Yanjun Liu, Runlian Deng, Xiaoming Yan,