Summary
A composite membrane composed of a sulfonated diblock copolymer (SDBC) based on poly(ether ether ketone) blocks copolymerized with partially fluorinated poly(arylene ether sulfone) and sulfonated carbon nanotubes (SCNTs) was fabricated by simple solution casting. Addition of the SCNT filler enhanced the water absorption and proton conductivity of membranes because of the increased per‐cluster volume of sulfonic acid groups, at the same time reinforced the membranes' thermal and mechanical properties. The SDBC/SCNT‐1.5 membrane exhibited the most improved physicochemical properties among all materials. It obtained a proton conductivity of 10.1 mS/cm at 120°C under 20% relative humidity (RH) which was 2.6 times more improved than the pristine membrane (3.9 mS/cm). Moreover, the single cell performance of the SDBC/SCNT‐1.5 membrane at 60°C and 60% RH at ambient pressure exhibited a peak power density of 171 mW/cm2 at a load current density of 378 mA/cm2, while the pristine membrane exhibited 119 mW/cm2 at a load current density of 294 mA/cm2. Overall, the composite membrane exhibited very promising characteristics to be used as polymer electrolyte membrane in fuel cells operated at intermediate RH.
In this study, magnetite nanorods stabilized on polyaniline/reduced graphene oxide (Fe3O4@PANI/rGO) was synthesized via a wet‐reflux strategy. The possible formation of Fe3O4@PANI/rGO was morphologically and structurally verified by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE‐SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT‐IR) spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Furthermore, the thermal stability of Fe3O4@PANI/rGO was measured by a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA); the composite had good thermal stability owing to the ceramic nature of Fe3O4. The Fe3O4@PANI/rGO has been applied as a potential sensing platform for electrochemical detection of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). By the combined efforts of extended active surface area, active carbon support, more catalytic active sites and high electrical conductivity, the Fe3O4@PANI/rGO exhibited an improved performance toward the non‐enzymatic detection of H2O2 in 0.5 M KOH with a fast response time (5 s), high sensitivity (223.7 μA mM−1 cm−2), low limit of detection (4.45 μM) and wide linear range (100 μM–1.5 mM). Furthermore, the fabricated sensor exhibited excellent recovery rates (94.2–104.0 %) during real sample analysis.
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