scholarly journals Sulfonated poly(arylene ether nitrile)-based composite membranes enhanced with Ca2+ bridged carbon nanotube-graphene oxide networks

Author(s):  
Mengna Feng ◽  
Yan Ma ◽  
JiaJia Chang ◽  
Jing Lin ◽  
Ying Xu ◽  
...  

Abstract As the core component of proton exchange membrane fuel cell, proton exchange membranes (PEM) have attracted much attention of researchers. To trade-off the proton conduction, dimensional stability and anti-oxidation ability, graphene oxide (GO) and acidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) using calcium ion as coordination bridge (GO-Ca2+-MWCNT) was synthesized, and then incorporating into sulfonated poly(arylene ether nitrile) (SPEN) to fabricate SPEN/GO-Ca2+-MWCNT organic-inorganic composite membranes by solution-casting method and explore the influence of varying loading on performances as PEM. It was found that the proton conductivity of the composite membranes was higher than that of SPEN, while maintaining better dimensional stability, excellent anti-oxidation ability and good mechanical properties. All of these were attributed to the formation of three-dimensional structure between GO and MWCNT bridged by Ca2+. Particularly, the SPEN/GO-Ca2+-MWCNT-1 composite membrane exhibited excellent tensile strength of 71.45 MPa, better thermal stability as well as high proton conductivity (0.054 S/cm at 30 ℃, and 0.193 S/cm at 90 ℃), above 10-2 S/cm, satisfying the requirement of fuel cells. All in all, the results indicate that the filler with three-dimensional network structure can effectively improve the performances of SPEN, and the prepared composite membranes show potential applications in many fields.

2021 ◽  
pp. 095400832110394
Author(s):  
Yan Ma ◽  
Kaixu Ren ◽  
Ziqiu Zeng ◽  
Mengna Feng ◽  
Yumin Huang

To improve the performances of sulfonated poly (arylene ether nitrile) (SPEN)–based proton exchange membranes (PEMs) in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs), the copper phthalocyanine grafted graphene oxide (CP-GO) was successfully prepared via in situ polymerization and subsequently incorporated into SPEN as filler to fabricate a series of SPEN/CP-GO-X (X represents for the mass ratio of CP-GO) composite membranes. The water absorption, swelling ratio, mechanical properties, proton conductivity, and methanol permeability of the membranes were systematically studied. CP-GO possesses good dispersion and compatibility with SPEN matrix, which is propitious to the formation of strong interfacial interactions with the SPEN, so as to provide more efficient transport channels for proton transfer in the composite membranes and significantly improve the proton conductivity of the membranes. Besides, the strong π–π conjugation interactions between CP-GO and SPEN matrix can make the composite membranes more compact, blocking the methanol transfer in the membranes, and significantly reducing the methanol permeability. Consequently, the SPEN/CP-GO-1 composite membrane displayed outstanding tensile strength (58 MPa at 100% RH and 25°C), excellent proton conductivity (0.178 S cm−1 at 60°C), and superior selectivity (5.552 × 105 S·cm−3·s). This study proposed a new method and strategy for the preparation of high performance PEMs.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (41) ◽  
pp. 20595-20606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taeyun Ko ◽  
Kihyun Kim ◽  
Min-Young Lim ◽  
Sang Yong Nam ◽  
Tae-Ho Kim ◽  
...  

Sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) (SPAES) composite membranes were prepared using thermally-treated graphene oxide (GO) and poly(2,5-benzimidazole)-grafted graphene oxide (ABPBI-GO) as fillers for proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) applications.


2014 ◽  
Vol 577 ◽  
pp. 53-57
Author(s):  
Hang Wei ◽  
Guang Li

Sulfonated poly (arylene ether sulfone) s (SPAESs) exhibit good proton conductivity, thermal and mechanical properties, could act as candidates of proton exchange membranes for fuel cells. At the same time, the poor oxidative stability and excessive swelling ratio of SPAESs bring limitations for its further use. In this article, PAN was employed to mix with SPAES, and then SPAES/PAN blend membranes were prepared from the blend solution by casting. The water uptake, dimensional and oxidative stability, proton conductivity were measured with respect to the addition content of PAN, the phase morphology of the resultant SPAES/PAN were also observed by SEM. The results explained that the corporation of PAN into SPAES could reduce the water uptake and improve the oxidative stability of the obtained membranes compared with the pristine SPAES membrane. That the PAN phase distributed as separated domains in SPAES matrix was found, the interaction between SPAES and PAN may be present, which is responsible for the improvement of dimensional and oxidative stability. Although the proton conductivity of the blend membranes became reduced with increase of PAN content in the SPAES/PAN blend, the conductivity of 0.0265S/cm at 30°C could still be reached, satisfying the requirement for proton exchange membrane Fuel Cell


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (24) ◽  
pp. 12698-12708 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sinan Feng ◽  
Guibin Wang ◽  
Haibo Zhang ◽  
Jinhui Pang

A novel octa-sulfonated poly(arylene ether) was combined with a longer hydrophobic backbone and grafted with ionic clusters, exhibiting high proton conductivity and excellent dimensional stability.


Polymers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 1871 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ae Kim ◽  
Mohanraj Vinothkannan ◽  
Kyu Lee ◽  
Ji Chu ◽  
Sumg Ryu ◽  
...  

We designed and synthesized a series of sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) (SPES) with different hydrophilic or hydrophobic oligomer ratios using poly-condensation strategy. Afterward, we fabricated the corresponding membranes via a solution-casting approach. We verified the SPES membrane chemical structure using nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) and confirmed the resulting oligomer ratio. Field-emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM) results revealed that we effectively attained phase separation of the SPES membrane along with an increased hydrophilic oligomer ratio. Thermal stability, glass transition temperature (Tg) and membrane elongation increased with the ratio of hydrophilic oligomers. SPES membranes with higher hydrophilic oligomer ratios exhibited superior water uptake, ion-exchange capacity, contact angle and water sorption, while retaining reasonable swelling degree. The proton conductivity results showed that SPES containing higher amounts of hydrophilic oligomers provided a 74.7 mS cm−1 proton conductivity at 90 °C, which is better than other SPES membranes, but slightly lower than that of Nafion-117 membrane. When integrating SPES membranes with proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) at 60 °C and 80% relative humidity (RH), the PEMFC power density exhibited a similar increment-pattern like proton conductivity pattern.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 2364
Author(s):  
Sung Kwan Ryu ◽  
Ae Rhan Kim ◽  
Mohanraj Vinothkannan ◽  
Kyu Ha Lee ◽  
Ji Young Chu ◽  
...  

The development of potential and novel proton exchange membranes (PEMs) is imperative for the further commercialization of PEM fuel cells (PEMFCs). In this work, phosphotungstic acid (PWA) and graphene oxide (GO) were integrated into sulfonated poly(arylene ether) (SPAE) through a solution casting approach to create a potential composite membrane for PEMFC applications. Thermal stability of membranes was observed using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and the SPAE/GO/PWA membranes exhibited high thermal stability compared to pristine SPAE membranes, owing to the interaction between SPAEK, GO, and PWA. By using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM), we observed that GO and PWA were evenly distributed throughout the SPAE matrix. The SPAE/GO/PWA composite membrane comprising 0.7 wt% GO and 36 wt% PWA exhibited a maximum proton conductivity of 186.3 mS cm−1 at 90 °C under 100% relative humidity (RH). As a result, SPAE/GO/PWA composite membrane exhibited 193.3 mW cm−2 of the maximum power density at 70 °C under 100% RH in PEMFCs.


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