Abstract

Imidazolium hydroxide anion exchange membranes functionalized with conjugated tetraphenylethylene moieties were synthesized via Ni(0) catalyzed polymerization by sequential chloromethylation, substitution with imidazoliums and ion exchange. Moreover, with their pendant benzoyl groups the copolymers showed high molecular weight, durability, thermo-oxidative stability, high solubility in polar aprotic solvents and strong chemical and thermal stability in comparison to alkyl quaternary ammonium-functionalized polymers. The proposed polymer membranes, without ether linkages, demonstrated improved performance in ion exchange capacity, water uptake, ion conductivity, and thermal stability. The polymer membranes were studied by 1H-NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, water uptake, ion exchange capacity and ion conductivity. Surface morphologies were assessed by atomic force microscope (AFM). The synthesized polymers may have applications as fuel cell membranes because of their excellent ion conductivity.

Highlights

  • Fuel cells are eco-friendly power sources having high energy density

  • Quaternary ammonium functionalized anion exchange membranes (QAAEM) have been developed and many researchers have revealed that the QAAEMs possess low conductivity and poor stability [10,11,12,13,14,15]

  • The common possible degradation pathways of quaternary ammonium species associated with OHions include Hoffman (E2) elimination, direct nucleophilic substitution (SN2) and ylide formation [3,4,16,17,18]

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Summary

Introduction

Compared to other types of polymer electrolyte membranes, perfluorosulfonic acid polymers are more effective [1,2] but in the same time they tend to be expensive. To overcome these demerits, alkaline anion exchange membranes (AAEMs) are being developed [3,4,5]. Alkaline anion exchange membranes (AAEMs) are being developed [3,4,5] They employ electrode catalysts (Fe/Co/Ni/Ag) and show better cathode kinetics than other fuel cells [6,7,8,9].

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