Pulsed plasma-polymerized alkaline anion-exchange membranes for potential application in direct alcohol fuel cells

Abstract

Pulsed plasma polymerization is adopted to synthesize alkaline anion-exchange membranes (AAEMs) with high contents of functional groups. The attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and thermo gravimetric analysis demonstrate that the benzyltrimethylammonium cationic groups can be successfully introduced into the polymer matrix. The content of the quaternary nitrogen in pulsed plasma-polymerized membrane is up to 1.93 atom%. The ultra-flat and undamaged morphology structure of the AAEMs indicates a low plasma ablation effect in the pulsed plasma polymerization. The excellent properties of the pulsed plasma-polymerized AAEMs, including good adhesion to the substrate, acceptable chemical stability and thermal stability, high ion-exchange capacity (1.42 mmol g −1) and water uptake (59.73 wt%), interesting ionic conductivity (0.0205 S cm −1 in deionized water at 20 °C) and ethanol permeability (3.37 × 10 −11 m 2 s −1), suggest a great potential for application in direct alcohol fuel cells.