TY - JOUR
T1 - Crosslinked sulfonated poly(arylene ether ketone) membranes bearing quinoxaline and acid-base complex cross-linkages for fuel cell applications
AU - Chen, Xinbing
AU - Chen, Pei
AU - An, Zhongwei
AU - Chen, Kangcheng
AU - Okamoto, Kenichi
PY - 2011/2/15
Y1 - 2011/2/15
N2 - A series of crosslinkable sulfonated poly(arylene ether ketone)s (SPAEKs) were synthesized by copolymerization of 4,4′-biphenol with 2,6-difluorobenzil and 5,5′-carbonyl-bis(2-fluorobenzene-sulfonate). A facile crosslinking method was successfully developed, based on the cyclocondensation reaction of benzil moieties in polymer chain with 3,3′-diaminobenzidine to form quinoxaline groups acting as covalent and acid-base ionic crosslinking. The uncrosslinked and crosslinked SPAEK membranes showed high mechanical properties and the isotropic membrane swelling, while the later became insoluble in tested polar aprotic solvents. The crosslinking significantly improved the membrane performance, i.e., the crosslinked membranes had the lower membrane dimensional change, lower methanol permeability and higher oxidative stability than the corresponding precursor membranes, with keeping the reasonably high proton conductivity. The crosslinked membrane (C-B4) with an ion exchange capacity of 2.02 mequiv. g-1 showed a reasonably high proton conductivity of 111 mS cm-1 with a low water uptake of 42 wt% at 80 °C. C-B4 exhibited a low methanol permeability of 0.55 × 10-6 cm2 s-1 for 32 wt% methanol solution at 25 °C. The crosslinked SPAEK membranes have potential for PEFC and DMFC applications.
AB - A series of crosslinkable sulfonated poly(arylene ether ketone)s (SPAEKs) were synthesized by copolymerization of 4,4′-biphenol with 2,6-difluorobenzil and 5,5′-carbonyl-bis(2-fluorobenzene-sulfonate). A facile crosslinking method was successfully developed, based on the cyclocondensation reaction of benzil moieties in polymer chain with 3,3′-diaminobenzidine to form quinoxaline groups acting as covalent and acid-base ionic crosslinking. The uncrosslinked and crosslinked SPAEK membranes showed high mechanical properties and the isotropic membrane swelling, while the later became insoluble in tested polar aprotic solvents. The crosslinking significantly improved the membrane performance, i.e., the crosslinked membranes had the lower membrane dimensional change, lower methanol permeability and higher oxidative stability than the corresponding precursor membranes, with keeping the reasonably high proton conductivity. The crosslinked membrane (C-B4) with an ion exchange capacity of 2.02 mequiv. g-1 showed a reasonably high proton conductivity of 111 mS cm-1 with a low water uptake of 42 wt% at 80 °C. C-B4 exhibited a low methanol permeability of 0.55 × 10-6 cm2 s-1 for 32 wt% methanol solution at 25 °C. The crosslinked SPAEK membranes have potential for PEFC and DMFC applications.
KW - Crosslinked sulfonated poly(arylene ether ketone)
KW - Crosslinking
KW - Methanol permeability
KW - Proton conductivity
KW - Proton exchange membrane
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=78649512510&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2010.10.039
DO - 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2010.10.039
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:78649512510
SN - 0378-7753
VL - 196
SP - 1694
EP - 1703
JO - Journal of Power Sources
JF - Journal of Power Sources
IS - 4
ER -