Abstract
A series of hybrid proton exchange membranes were synthesized via in situ polymerization of poly (2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid) PMPS with sulfonated poly (1,4-phenylene ether-ether-sulfone) (SPEES). The insertion of poly (2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid) PMPS, between the rigid skeleton of SPEES plays a reinforcing role to enhance the ionic conductivity. The synthesized polymer was chemically characterized by fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and nuclear magnetic resonance 1H NMR spectroscopy to demonstrate the successful grafting of PMPS with the pendent polymer chain of SPEES. A variety of physicochemical properties were also investigated such as ion exchange capacity (IEC), proton conductivity, water uptake and swelling ratio to characterize the suitability of the formed polymer for various electrochemical applications. SP-PMPS-03, having the highest concentration of all PMPS, shows excellent proton conductivity of 0.089 S cm−1 at 80 °C which is much higher than SPEES which is ~0.049 S cm−1. Optimum water uptake and swelling ratio with high conductivity is mainly attributed to a less ordered arrangement polymer chain with high density of the functional group to facilitate ionic transport. The residual weight was 93.35, 92.44 and 89.56%, for SP-PMPS-01, 02 and 03, respectively, in tests with Fenton’s reagent after 24 h. In support of all above properties a good chemical and thermal stability was also achieved by SP-PMPS-03, owing to the durability for electrochemical application.
Highlights
Due to the presence of an inbuilt property for converting chemical energy into electrical energy, fuel cell technology is gaining huge attention for portable as well as stationary objects [1,2]
We observed the diminishment of the peak attributed to the hydroxyl group in cases of SP-PMPS-02 and 03, which could be due to the grafting of PMPS
An elevation in the proton conductivity was successfully attained by grafting aliphatic polymer onto SPEES by sulfonamide bond formation
Summary
Due to the presence of an inbuilt property for converting chemical energy into electrical energy, fuel cell technology is gaining huge attention for portable as well as stationary objects [1,2]. To address the above issue several polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs) have been synthesized from a variety of sulfonated aromatic polymers such as poly (arylene ether sulfone ketone), polysulfone and polyimides for their application in proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), because of their rigid backbone structures which are quite stable in thermal and mechanical aspects [8,9,10,11,12]. Several researches have been finished in order to optimize the membrane properties which could attest themselves as best for fuel cell applications such as chemical and physical modifications viz grafting, cross-linking, pore filling and synthesis of composite membranes [13,14,15,16]
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