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Poly(vinyl alcohol) modified by KE reactive dyes as a novel proton‐exchange membrane for potential fuel‐cell applications
Author(s) -
Zhou Tianchi,
He Xuemei,
Xie Kongliang
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.43019
Subject(s) - vinyl alcohol , membrane , thermal stability , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , electrolyte , conductivity , materials science , proton exchange membrane fuel cell , polymer chemistry , chemical engineering , chemistry , polymer , nuclear chemistry , analytical chemistry (journal) , chromatography , electrode , organic chemistry , composite material , biochemistry , engineering
A new type of proton‐exchange membrane based on poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) modified KE reactive dyes (KE‐4BD) was prepared and evaluated as H + ‐conducting polymer electrolytes. The effects of the content of KE‐4BD on the membrane H + conductivity and water uptake were studied with an alternating‐current impedance technique and the method of weighing, respectively. Fourier transform infrared and scanning electron microscopy were used for the chemical and structural characterization of these membranes. With all of these properties, the optimal mass ratio between PVA and KE‐4BD was 1:0.5, and the resulting membrane exhibited a high proton conductivity (0.109 S/cm) at room temperature; this afforded a power density of 83.9 mW/cm 2 at 210.4 mA/cm 2 and an open‐circuit voltage of 810.8 mV. The PVA/KE‐4BD membranes showed a high oxidative stability in Fenton's reagent (3% H 2 O 2 v/v, 2 ppm FeSO 4 ). Thermal analysis also showed that the membranes exhibited a significant improvement in thermal stability. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133 , 43019.