Polymer electrolyte fuel cell performance of poly(arylene ether ketone)-graft-crosslinked-poly(sulfonated arylene ether sulfone)

Abstract

The physical properties and polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) performance of the graft-crosslinked copolymers based on hydrophobic poly(arylene ether ketone) main chains graft-crosslinked with hydrophilic sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) segments were investigated in comparison with those of the sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) multi-block copolymer (bSPAES) and Nafion 112. The graft-crosslinked copolymers with ion exchange capacity (IEC) of 1.90 and 1.58 meq g−1 (GC(1/3) and GC(1/5), respectively) showed the much lower water uptakes and smaller in-plane dimensional changes than bSPAES with IEC of 2.04 meq g−1, resulting in the higher membrane stability. GC(1/3) showed the highest PEFC performances at conditions of 90 °C, 0.2–0.1 MPa and 82–30% RH among these membranes. GC(1/5) also showed the higher or similar PEFC performances when compared to bSPAES and Nafion 112. GC(1/5) showed much better PEFC durability than bSPAES. The graft-crosslinked copolymers have high potential as polymer electrolyte membranes for fuel cell applications.