Review
Chemistry, Physical
Minghan Xu, Hao Xue, Qingfu Wang, Lichao Jia
Summary: Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are potential clean energy sources attracting attention, with a focus on developing high-performance, low-cost PEMs to replace benchmark Nafion membranes. Sulfonated poly(arylene ether ketone)s (SPAEKs) and sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone)s (SPAESs) are promising candidates due to their performance and cost advantages. Efforts are classified and introduced in developing SPAEK and SPAES membranes for promising research directions in the field.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY
(2021)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Khadijeh Hooshyari, Samira Heydari, Hossein Beydaghi, Hamid Reza Rajabi
Summary: This study aims to improve the proton conductivity and fuel cell performance of polymer-based membranes by using specific nanoparticles. The produced membranes exhibit remarkable electrochemical and mechanical performances, achieving high proton conductivity and power density over a wide temperature range and demonstrating long lifetime. These nanocomposite membranes show potential application in fuel cells.
Article
Polymer Science
Yunji Xie, Anna Ringuette, Di Liu, Jinhui Pang, Hatice Mutlu, Dominik Voll, Patrick Theato
Summary: The effects of degree of branching and ion exchange capacity on the properties of sulfonated branched polymer proton exchange membranes (PEMs) were systematically compared. Increasing the degree of branching and ion exchange capacity improved water absorption, proton conductivity, single-cell performance, and distribution of hydrophilic phase, but reduced mechanical properties. Increasing the degree of branching also enhanced dimensional stability and oxidative stability, while the impact of ion exchange capacity was the opposite. The optimal polymer membrane had a degree of branching of 7.5% and ion exchange capacity of 1.94 meq g-1, exhibiting the highest proton conductivity and maximum power density, satisfactory dimensional change, and sufficient thermal, oxidative, and mechanical stability. This work serves as a guide for designing and synthesizing sulfonated branched polymer PEMs.
EUROPEAN POLYMER JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Yunji Xie, Di Liu, Anna Ringuette, Jinhui Pang, Hatice Mutlu, Dominik Voll, Patrick Theato
Summary: This study reports the synthesis of highly branched sulfonated poly(arylene ether ketone sulfone) copolymers as proton exchange membranes (PEMs), and explores the effects of different branching agent ratios on the membrane properties. Among the fabricated membranes, a 12.5% branching agent ratio PEM exhibited comparable proton conductivity and swelling change to Nafion 117, achieving a balance between proton conductivity and dimensional stability.
ACS APPLIED ENERGY MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Na Rae Kang, Thanh Huong Pham, Hannes Nederstedt, Patric Jannasch
Summary: Phosphonated aromatic polymers functionalized with highly acidic perfluorophenylphosphonic acid show high conductivity, efficient ionic clustering, excellent proton conductivity, and outstanding thermal stability, making them attractive for applications in catalyst layers and proton exchange membranes.
JOURNAL OF MEMBRANE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Farid Wijaya, Seunghee Woo, Hyejin Lee, Adam F. Nugraha, Dongwon Shin, Byungchan Bae
Summary: In this study, sulfonated multiblock poly(phenylene-co-arylene ether sulfone) (SmPPES) membranes were prepared via Colon's Nickel catalyzed cross-coupling reaction. The membranes showed well-defined phase separation and proton conductivities comparable to or exceeding that of a reference Nafion membrane. The control over sulfonated phenylene and ether sulfone hydrophobic blocks provides new insight into designing high-performance polymer electrolyte membranes.
JOURNAL OF MEMBRANE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Mamta Kumari, John C. Douglin, Dario R. Dekel
Summary: A series of mechanically robust and highly conducting crosslinked anion-exchange membranes were synthesized using quaternary phosphonium-functionalized poly(ether ether ketone) (QPPEEK) as the base polymer and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) as the crosslinker. Among different compositions, the QPPEEK-PEG 20 membrane showed the best properties with high hydroxide conductivity, good mechanical strength, and flexibility. This crosslinked membrane was chemically stable in alkaline environment and performed well in anion-exchange membrane fuel cell applications, indicating the potential of PEEK-based membranes for such applications.
JOURNAL OF MEMBRANE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Vartika Sharma, Prashant Upadhyay, Nehal H. Rathod, Jeet Sharma, Sarthak Mishra, Savan K. Raj, Vimal Kishore, Vaibhav Kulshrestha
Summary: Sol-gel modified sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) organosilane-based composite proton exchange membranes were investigated for their suitability in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). The addition of aminopropyl trimethoxysilane (APTES) in different concentrations improved the physico and electrochemical performances of the composite membranes by inducing H-bonding interactions between free -NH2 and -SO3H groups. The Si-SPEEK membrane showed potential as an alternate for DMFCs.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY
(2023)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Lingxin Meng, Zhenguo Zhang, Mengchi Ju, Jingmei Xu, Zhe Wang
Summary: Incorporating Im@MIL-101-NH2 into copolymers improves the chemical stability, mechanical properties, and dimensional stability of compound membranes, and constructs new proton transport paths. These membranes have potential application value in fuel cells.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Ao Nan Lai, Pei Zhi Zheng, Shu Chun Li, Yi Fei Zhu, Peng Cheng Hu, Shu Feng Zhou
Summary: This study presents a new approach for constructing higher-performance anion exchange membranes (AEMs) by combining block-type and comb-shaped architectures. The synthesized quaternization fluorene-containing block poly (arylene ether nitrile ketone)s exhibit efficient ion-transport channels and high hydroxide conductivities. The AEMs also demonstrate excellent anti-swelling property, mechanical properties, thermal and oxidative stability, and alkaline stability.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Alphonse Haragirimana, Na Li, Zhaoxia Hu, Shouwen Chen
Summary: This study investigates the effect of thermal crosslinking on SPEEK/SPAES membranes, showing that the thermally-crosslinked membranes exhibit excellent physicochemical and electrochemical performance, indicating potential applications in fuel cells.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY
(2021)
Article
Polymer Science
Maryam Oroujzadeh, Shahram Mehdipour-Ataei
Summary: Two series of sulfonated poly(ether sulfone ketone)s were synthesized, and the effect of different ratios of sulfone: ketone functional groups on membrane properties was studied. Membranes with higher sulfone content exhibited lower density, higher water absorption, and swelling ratio values.
POLYMERS FOR ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Tzu-Sheng Huang, Tung-Li Hsieh, Chih-Ching Lai, Hsin-Yi Wen, Wen-Yao Huang, Mei-Ying Chang
Summary: The study successfully synthesized a series of partially fluorinated sulfonated poly(arylene ether) membranes with good mechanical properties and high proton conductivity, which showed excellent performance in fuel cells. The membranes demonstrated significant dimensional and oxidative stability while maintaining outstanding cell performance.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Xue Li, Shubo Wang, Hong Zhang, Cheng Lin, Xiaofeng Xie, Chenxing Hu, Ran Tian
Summary: Copoly (arylene ether sulfone)s were used for proton exchange membrane preparation, achieving enhanced phase-separated morphology and favorable proton conductivity. The membranes exhibited higher water uptake and reasonably high proton conductivity, making them suitable for use in PEMFCs.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY
(2021)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Tao Wang, Si Li, Tanner Corrado, Lingyu Yang, Jennifer L. Schaefer, Ruilan Guo
Summary: A facile design of sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) multi-block copolymer membranes with selectively cross-linked hydrophobic domains for proton exchange membranes was developed. The cross-linked membranes showed significantly improved dimensional stability and proton conductivity compared to the cross-linked random copolymers. The cross-linked multiblock copolymer membrane outperformed Nafion over the full relative humidity range at the highest ion exchange capacity level and the longest block length.
ACS APPLIED POLYMER MATERIALS
(2022)
