Improvement of electrochemical performances of sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) via incorporation of sulfonated poly(arylene ether benzimidazole) |
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Authors: | Young Taik Hong Chang Hyun Lee Hyung Su Park Kyung A Min Hyung Joong Kim Sang Yong Nam Young Moo Lee |
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Affiliation: | 1. Energy Materials Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, Yuseong, Daejeon 305-600, South Korea;2. School of Chemical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul 133-791, South Korea;3. Division of Advanced Materials Engineering, Kongju National University, Kongju 314-701, South Korea;4. Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Engineering Research Institute, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 660-701, South Korea |
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Abstract: | In the present study, modified acid–base blend membranes were fabricated via incorporation of sulfonated poly(arylene ether benzimidazole) (SPAEBI) into sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) (SPAES). These membranes had excellent methanol-barrier properties in addition to an ability to compensate for the loss of proton conductivity that typically occurs in general acid–base blend system. To fabricate the membranes, SPAEBIs, which served as amphiphilic polymers with different degrees of sulfonation (0–50 mol%), were synthesized by polycondensation and added to SPAES. It resulted in the formation of acid–amphiphilic complexes such as PAES-SO3]−+H-SPAEBI] through the ionic crosslinking, which prevented SO3H groups in the complex from transporting free protons in an aqueous medium, contributing to a reduction of ion exchange capacity values and water uptake in the blend membranes, and leading to lower methanol permeability in a water–methanol mixture. Unfortunately, the ionic bonding formation was accompanied by a decrease of bound water content and proton conductivity, although the latter problem was solved to some extent by the incorporation of additional SO3H groups in SPAEBI. In the SPAES–SPAEBI blend membranes, enhancement of proton conductivity and methanol-barrier property was prominent at temperatures over 90 °C. The direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) performance, which was based on SPAES–SPAEBI-50–5, was 1.2 times higher than that of Nafion® 117 under the same operating condition. |
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Keywords: | Direct methanol fuel cell Acid&ndash amphiphilic blend membrane Sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) Sulfonated poly(arylene ether benzimidazole) |
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