Nanoporous PBI membranes by track etching for high temperature PEMs

Abstract

This article describes for the first time the preparation of conducting track-etched PBI membranes 25mm thick with pore diameter values varying from 15nm to 50nm and overall porosity up to 10%. The TGA, DSC and FTIR characterization results for the so obtained nanoporous membranes reveal the chemical modification of PBI upon irradiation along the track walls. A clear conduction outperforming is shown by phosphoric acid doped track-etched PBI in comparison with dense PBI counterparts. This behavior could be explained by the effective contribution of additional pathways for proton transport involving shorter benzimidazole fragments, cross-linked PBI nanodomains and free amphoteric phosphoric acid molecules settled on the pore walls.