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Sulfonated Oligomer‐crosslinked Fluorinated Poly(aryl ether sulfone)‐based Proton Exchange Membranes for Fuel Cells
Author(s) -
Zhang X.,
Lu Y.,
Yan X.,
Hu Z.,
Chen S.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
fuel cells
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.485
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1615-6854
pISSN - 1615-6846
DOI - 10.1002/fuce.201700166
Subject(s) - membrane , polymer chemistry , proton exchange membrane fuel cell , materials science , ether , thermogravimetric analysis , oligomer , polymer , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , chemical engineering , sulfone , thermal stability , aryl , chemistry , organic chemistry , composite material , biochemistry , alkyl , engineering
A series of sulfonated oligomer‐crosslinked fluorinated poly(aryl ether sulfone) membranes (c‐SPFAES) have been prepared in a consecutive casting and thermal treating process from fluorinated polymers and sulfonated oligomers, where the latter acted as hydrophilic grafts and crosslinkers at the same time. Membrane structure and physico‐chemical properties are characterized and evaluated by 1H‐nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and atomic force microscopy, Fenton, water‐swelling and H 2 /O 2 single cell tests. For the c‐SPFAES membranes with ion exchange capacity of 1.04–1.78 mmol g −1 , they exhibit excellent mechanical toughness with Young's moduli above 1.3 GPa and tensile strength beyond 35.8 MPa, good dimensional and thermo‐oxidative stability. They also exhibited clear hydrophilic‐hydrophobic phase‐separation morphology. The proton conductivity is higher than 0.1 S cm −1 for the c‐SPFAES membranes with IEC over 1.38 mmol g −1 at 60 °C. In a H 2 /O 2 single cell test, the maximum power density of the c‐SPFAES‐1.61 membrane achieves 587 mW cm −2 at 80 °C under fully hydrated state. The c‐SPFAES membrane show promising potentials as a polymer electrolyte membrane candidate for fuel cell applications.