Organic-inorganic backbone with high contents of proton conducting groups: A newly designed high performance proton conductor

Abstract

To prepare new high temperature organic-inorganic proton conductor for applications in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), 2,4,6-triphosphono-1,3,5-triazine (TPT) was synthesized and reacted with three different types of metal ions (Ce, Zr and Fe) in varied molar ratios. In each TPT molecule, three phosphonic acid groups were introduced into the triazine ring to obtain an organic compound with high content of proton conducting groups, which was then reacted with metal ions to ensure the insolubility in water aiming to avoid leaking during PEMFC operation. CeTPT(1:2) exhibited good thermal stability up to 200 °C and showed crystalline phase. MTPT exhibited high ion exchange capacity (IEC, 1.53–2.12 meq. g−1). CeTPT(1:2) exhibited highest proton conductivity among all samples, which reached 0.116, 0.070 and 0.034 S cm−1 at 100% relative humidity (RH), 50% RH and anhydrous conditions at 180 °C, respectively. The corresponding activation energy for proton conduction was 14.5, 16.0 and 21.5 kJ mol−1 at 100% RH, 50% RH and anhydrous conditions, respectively. The mechanism for proton conduction was proposed according to the activation energy. The proton conductor can find promising applications in fuel cells, corrosion inhibition and water desalination due to its good thermal stability and high IEC.