Abstract
It is of great importance to improve the proton conductivity of proton exchange membranes by easy-handling and cost-efficient approaches. In this work, we incorporated a commercially obtained surfactant, sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS), into sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) through solution casting to prepare SPEEK/SDBS membranes. When no more than 10 wt % SDBS was added, the SDBS was well dissolved into the SPEEK matrix, and the activation energy for the proton transfer in the SPEEK/SDBS membranes was greatly reduced, leading to significant enhancement of the membrane proton conductivity. Compared with the SPEEK control membrane, the SPEEK/SDBS membrane with 10 wt % SDBS showed a 78% increase in proton conductivity, up from 0.051 S cm−1 to 0.091 S cm−1, while the water uptake increased from 38% to 62%. Moreover, the SPEEK/SDBS membrane exhibited constant proton conductivity under a long-term water immersion test.
Highlights
Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have been considered a promising energy conversion device due to their advantages of high energy efficiency and low environmental impact [1].Proton exchange membranes (PEMs) are the core components of PEMFCs, and proton conductivity is one of the most important properties for the PEMs [2,3]
sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) has a high degree of sulfonation (DS) [7,8], while the high DS results in high water uptake, leading to poor dimensional stability
Are quite similar to that of the SPEEK membrane. Such similarity indicates that the sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS) could be well dissolved in the SPEEK matrix when no more than 10 wt % SDBS is incorporated; this should be due to the amphiphilic nature of both SPEEK and SDBS and the formation of ion clusters between the sulfonic acid groups of SPEEK and SDBS
Summary
Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have been considered a promising energy conversion device due to their advantages of high energy efficiency and low environmental impact [1]. A commonly used and effective way to improve the proton conductivity without much deterioration of the dimensional stability of SPEEK is to introduce inorganic fillers modified with sulfonate-containing components into the polymer matrix [9,10,11]. Such enhancements in proton conductivity are mostly due to the formation of additional proton transport pathways in the PEMs. For example, Liu et al [12] utilized dopamine-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization to graft polystyrene sulfonic acid (PSSA) onto the surfaces of halloysite nanotubes (HNTs), and when adding. 39.5 mS the cm−proton to improve conductivity, especially under high temperature and low humidity, is to the inorganic filler is usually complicated costly Another effective to improve incorporate solid heteropolyacid (HPA)and or sometimes liquid phosphoric acid (PA). Ion exchange capacity (IEC), proton conductivity, water uptake, and mechanical properties
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