Fabrication and characterization of sulfonated polybenzimidazole/sulfonated imidized graphene oxide hybrid membranes for high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells |
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| Authors: | Muhammad Asif Imran Gaohong He Xuemei Wu Xiaoming Yan Tiantian Li Abdul-Sammed Khan |
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| Affiliation: | 1. State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Research and Development Center of Membrane Science and Technology, School of Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China;2. School of Physics, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China |
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| Abstract: | The sulfonated polybenzimidazole (sPBI)/sulfonated imidized graphene oxide (SIGO) was evaluated to be a potential candidate for high temperature proton exchange membranes fuel cells (HT-PEMFCs). Multifunctionalized covalently bonded SIGO is incorporated in sPBI matrix to resolve the drawbacks such as low proton conductivity, poor water uptake, and ion-exchange capacity (IEC) of sPBI polymer, synthesized by direct polycondensation in phosphoric acid for the application of proton exchange membranes. Strong hydrogen bonding among multifunctional groups established a neighborhood of interconnected hydrophobic graphene sheets and organic polymer chains. It provides hydrophobic–hydrophilic phase separation and facile proton hopping architecture. The optimized sPBI/SIGO (15 wt %) revealed 2.45 meq g?1 IEC; 5.81 mS cm?1 proton conductivity 120 °C and 10% relative humidity (RH)] and 2.45% bound water content. The maximum power density of the sPBI/SIGO-15 membrane was 0.40 W cm?2 at 160 °C (5% RH) and ambient pressure with stoichiometric feed of H2/air. This recommends that sPBI/SIGO composite membranes are compatible candidate for HT-PEMFCs. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 47892. |
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| Keywords: | agglomeration graphene oxide high temperature fuel cells imidized graphene oxide proton exchange membrane sulfonated polybenzimidazole |
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