Polyethersulfone containing sulfonimide groups as proton exchange membrane fuel cells

In this publication a new synthesis approach of polyethersulfone containing sulfonimide groups (SI-PES), by chemical modification of sulfonated polyethersulfone (S-PES), was developed. The synthesis protocol was optimized in order to turn all the sulfonic function into sulfonimide. The effect of replacing arylsulfonic acid function with a more acidic one, i.e. aryl trifluoromethanesulfonimide, was evaluated through thermal, dynamic mechanical analysis, water uptake and conductivity. For similar ionic exchange capacity (IEC), i.e. 1.8 H⁺/dm³, at 60 °C and 95% relative humidity, the conductivity of SI-PSF is 9.5 mS/cm while that of S-PSF is only 3.5 mS/cm. However, at 60 °C the water uptake is 3 times higher for SI-PSF membranes as compare with S-PSF. An important change is observed in the slope of the conductivity and water uptake plots of SI-PES membranes, at different temperatures, depending of IEC. This could be explained by an important change in membrane morphology.