For anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE), two types of anion exchange membranes (AEMs) containing crosslinked poly(phenylene oxide) (PPO) and poly(styrene ethylene butylene styrene) (SEBS) were prepared with and without triazole. The impact of triazole was carefully examined. In this work, the PPO was crosslinked with the non-aryl ether-type SEBS to take advantage of its enhanced chemical stability and phase separation under alkaline conditions. Compared to their triazole-free counterpart, the crosslinked membranes made with triazole had better hydroxide-ion conductivity because of the increased phase separation, which was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Moreover, they displayed improved mechanical and alkaline stability. Under water electrolysis (WE) conditions, a triazole-containing crosslinked PPO–SEBS membrane electrode assembly (MEA) was created using IrO2 as the anode and a Pt/C catalyst as the cathode. This MEA displayed a current density of 0.7 A/cm2 at 1.8 V, which was higher than that of the MEA created with the triazole-free counterpart. Our study indicated that the crosslinked PPO–SEBS membrane containing triazoles had improved chemo-physical and electrical capabilities for WE because of the strong hydrogen bonding between triazole and water/OH−.
Proton
exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) generates oxygen
and hydrogen at the anode and cathode, respectively, by conducting
protons generated at the anode to the cathode through a proton exchange
membrane (PEM). The performance of PEMWE can be improved with faster
catalytic reactions at each electrode; thus, the development of a
PEM with excellent ionic conductivity and physicochemical stability
is essential. Nafion, a type of perfluoro-sulfonic acid polymer, is
the most widely used PEM material. However, despite its excellent
conductivity and chemical stability, it exhibits high hydrogen permeability
due to its structural characteristics. Quantum dots (QDs) have a hydrophilic
functional group that can act as an ion conductor and are extremely
compatible with the hydrophilic cluster of Nafion due to their characteristic
nanosized structure. In this study, various compositions of N-doped
carbon quantum dots (CQDs) containing hydrophilic functional groups
were coated on a Nafion-212 membrane. The resulting series of CQD-coated
Nafion membranes exhibited improvements in morphology and ionic conductivity
as well as reductions in hydrogen permeability. In particular, the
Nafion membrane coated with 0.75 wt % of N-doped CQD (CQD-cNafion-0.75)
exhibited improved mechanical properties and higher oxidation stability
compared to Nafion-212. It also displayed higher ionic conductivity
of 240.3 mS cm‑1 at 80 °C and reduced hydrogen
permeability (about 10% reduction) compared to Nafion-212. In addition,
the performance of single-cell PEMWE using the CQD-cNafion-0.75 membrane
was found to be approximately 1.2 times higher than Nafion-212.
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