Article
Chemistry, Physical
Diao Yuan, Yajun Qin, Songsong Li, Shenghua Du, Yaoyao Xu, Qiang Weng, Pei Chen, Xinbing Chen, Zhongwei An
Summary: A novel monomer DFTMTE was synthesized and utilized to prepare densely sulfonated copolymer membranes with high ion exchange capacity and conductivity, exhibiting significantly improved performance compared to commercially available membranes, attributed to excellent microphase separation and quinoxaline-based crosslinking.
JOURNAL OF POWER SOURCES
(2021)
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
Engineering, Chemical
Ji Eun Park, Junghwan Kim, Jusung Han, Kihyun Kim, SungBin Park, Sungjun Kim, Hyun S. Park, Yong-Hun Cho, Jong-Chan Lee, Yung-Eun Sung
Summary: The sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) with a 50 mol.% degree of sulfonation, SPAES50, has been successfully synthesized for use in hydrocarbon-based membrane and ionomer applications in proton-exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE). The SPAES50 membrane and the SPAES50-based ionomer (P50) were found to exhibit excellent physical and electrochemical properties, leading to higher performance in PEMWE compared to the commercial Nafion (TM) membrane and ionomer. This study demonstrates the great potential of SPAES50 as a hydrocarbon-based membrane and ionomer for PEMWE applications.
JOURNAL OF MEMBRANE SCIENCE
(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)
Article
Polymer Science
Riddhi Kamble, Arijit Ghorai, Bholanath Ghanti, Debabrata Pradhan, Susanta Banerjee
Summary: A series of polymer-metal-organic frameworks (MOF) hybrid composite membranes were prepared and their properties were analyzed and compared. The results showed that incorporating MOF into the polymer matrix can significantly improve proton conductivity, water uptake, and swelling without affecting oxidative stability.
EUROPEAN POLYMER JOURNAL
(2022)
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
Polymer Science
Xue Li, Hong Zhang, Cheng Lin, Ran Tian, Penglun Zheng, Chenxing Hu
Summary: This study investigates the morphological effects of side chain length on sulfonated polystyrene grafted poly(arylene ether sulfone)s (SPAES) proton exchange membranes. Longer side chains in the SPAES membrane promote phase segregation and provide better solvent effects for the distribution of sulfonated side chains, resulting in improved proton transport in the hydrophilic domains.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Zhenguo Zhang, Jiahui Ren, Mengchi Ju, Xuan Chen, Jingmei Xu, Zhe Wang, Lingxin Meng, Pengyun Zhao, Hao Wang
Summary: Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are new porous crystalline materials, and Zr-based MOF-801 with structural defects can achieve high surface area and water absorption capacity. Hybrid membranes combining structural-defect MOF-801 and C-SPAEKS show promising proton conductivity under high temperature and humidity conditions, comparable to Nafion 117.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY
(2021)
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
Polymer Science
Zahra Esmaeilzadeh, Mohammad Karimi, Ahmad Mousavi Shoushtari, Mehran Javanbakht
Summary: This study successfully fabricated and characterized the SPEEK nanocomposite of polydopamine coated multi-walled carbon nanotube (P@MWCNT), showing improved dimensional stability and enhanced proton conductivity. Through innovative approach based on interfacial energies, it was found that increasing the interfacial energy between P@MWCNTs and polymer chains contributes to the transfer of protons along the interface region of nanofiller and matrix.
Article
Polymer Science
Hailin Yu, Yinghan Wang
Summary: Aldehyde terminated sulfonated poly (arylene ether sulfone) (SPAES-CHO) and SPAES-graft-SPVA (SPAES-g-SPVA) membranes were successfully prepared in this study, with the introduction of sulfonated poly (vinyl alcohol) (SPVA) resulting in significantly lower methanol permeability and higher proton selectivity.
HIGH PERFORMANCE POLYMERS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Lili Liu, Yao Lu, Cong Ning, Na Li, Shouwen Chen, Zhaoxia Hu
Summary: Structure design plays a crucial role in preparing proton exchange membranes (PEMs) with excellent performance. In this study, a series of comb-shaped sulfonated fluorinated poly(aryl ether sulfone) (SPFAES) membranes were synthesized and demonstrated improved proton conductivity and physicochemical stability compared to linear SPFAE membranes. These findings offer a promising example for the synthesis of high-performance PEMs with flexible comb-shaped side chains.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY
(2022)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Mengchi Ju, Qingyuan Shi, Jingmei Xu, Xuan Chen, Jiahui Ren, Jinxuan Lei, Lingxin Meng, Pengyun Zhao, Zhe Wang
Summary: A series of novel organic-inorganic hybrid membranes were fabricated by anchoring metal-organic frameworks onto the side-chain type organic polymer backbone. These hybrid proton exchange membranes showed good dimensional stability and excellent oxidation stability.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Polymer Science
Kaarthick Raaja Venkatachalam, Sachin M. B. Gautham, Jegatha Nambi Nambi Krishnan
Summary: In-house synthesized s-p-PBI was blended with commercially available SPAES, resulting in a polymer blend membrane with improved mechanical properties and stability. The interactions between the polymers were examined using various analysis methods, confirming the advantages of the blend membrane.
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)