Abstract
Sulfonated poly(arylene ether ketone) (SPAEK) containing carboxylic acid groups at the pendant position was synthesized. The proton conductivity was enhanced over a wide range of humidity by grafting 1H-1,2,3-triazole (TRI), a heterocyclic protogenic reagent, on SPAEK via the pendant carboxylic acid. The proton conductivity, water uptake, and thermal and mechanical stability of the TRI-grafted SPAEK membranes (SPAEK–TRI) were measured and compared against those of a commercial Nafion® 117 membrane. The proton conductivity increased as the degree of sulfonation (DS) increased, and this effect was further enhanced by the introduction of TRI. The SPAEK–TRI membrane with 40% DS (SPAEK40–TRI) exhibited an even higher proton conductivity than Nafion® 117 over the entire range of relative humidity (RH). The SPAEK40–TRI membrane exhibited a tensile strength of 16.52MPa, which was similar to that of Nafion® 117, and all of the membranes prepared in this study were thermally stable at up to 200°C. The ion cluster dimensions for SPAEK40–TRI and SPAEK50–TRI were of 4.52nm and 4.91nm, respectively, which are larger than that of Nafion® 117, 3.36nm. This difference is attributed to the higher water uptake in the SPAEK–TRI membranes than Nafion® 117.
Published Version
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