No abstract

The effective mobility of hydroxide, chloride and fluoride ions is reported in various anion exchange membranes (AEM) with a backbone of polysulfone (PSU) or poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene)oxide (PPO). The concentration dependence of the effective mobility is used to derive the porosity (π), tortuosity (τ), and percolation thresholds and to plot the ionic conductivity vs the hydration number. Semi-logarithmic plots of the effective ion mobility u(i) vs the square root of concentration √c(i) for hydroxide, fluoride and chloride ions in various PSU-and PPO-based ionomers at 25 and 60 °C show linear relations, from which the ratio π/τ can be determined. This existence of linear u(i)=f(√c(i)) plots is related to the very particular boundary conditions experienced by mobile ions, migrating in close vicinity to the immobile grafted counter-ions placed at the interfaces between polymer domains and electrolyte solution. The π/τ values for PSU-QA (0.29) and PPO-QA (0.38) are consistent with a relatively low hydrophilic-hydrophobic nanophase separation, which leads to channels with low diameter and high tortuosity. The tortuosity determined from a Bruggeman-type relation is 1.9 for PSU-QA and 1.6 for PPO-QA. The percolation thresholds , determined from the universal percolation equation near and above , are at a water volume fraction of 0.07 for PSU-TMA and 0.03 for PPO-QA indicating that these AEM have a two-dimensional structure of the hydrated domains. The prefactor, which should represent a good indication as to the maximum achievable ionic conductivity, is slightly below 100 mS/cm for both PSU-TMA and PPO-based ionomers. Plots of experimental and computed hydroxide and chloride ion conductivities as function of the hydration number () show a maximum ionic conductivity for a value of the hydration number around 60, corresponding to optimal hydration conditions. At λ = 100, the ratio of conductivity between PSU-QA (OH form) and PPO-QA (Cl form) indicates that the degree of dissociation of ion pairs is about 30% lower for hydroxide than for chloride ions, which is consistent with the effective ionic radii of Cl and OH -.

The stability of anion exchange membranes is paramount for the use in alkaline fuel cells. Long chain ionomers are supposed to be more alkaline-resistant with respect to short chain isomers. In this paper the synthesis, properties and stability of ionomers with a long side chain are investigated. Poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene)oxide (PPO) is chosen as backbone, due to its reported stability in alkaline conditions. The functional group is pentyl-ammonium with trimethylamine (TMA) or 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane (DABCO) as model amines. The synthesis is carried out via metalation reaction and is optimized as a function of temperature and time. The water uptake is relatively low, in accordance with the large hydrophobicity of the PPO backbone. The through-plane ionic conductivity is consistent with literature data; it amounts to 15.3 mS/cm at 80 °C for the TMA derivative. The mechanical properties are typical of ionomers below the glass transition temperature (for the TMA derivative at ambient humidity: Young Modulus = 1310 ± 30 MPa). The stability in alkaline conditions, studied by thermogravimetric analysis and measurements of ionic conductivity and ion exchange capacity, is higher than that of short-side chain ionomers with the same basic group. The decrease of ionic conductivity (57 vs 22% residual conductivity after 72 h in 2 M NaOH at 80 °C) and IEC is monitored showing that the degradation is fast in the first hours and may by described by second order kinetics. These results help in selecting high performance anion exchange membranes for electrochemical energy technologies.

We investigated the possibility to increase the working temperature and endurance of proton exchange membranes for fuel cells and water electrolyzers by thermal annealing of short side chain perfluorosulfonic acid (SSC-PFSA) Aquivion® membranes. The Ionomer nc Analysis (INCA method), based on nc/T plots where nc is a counter elastic force index, was applied to SSC-PFSA in order to evaluate ionomer thermo-mechanical properties and to probe the increase of crystallinity during the annealing procedure. The enhanced thermal and mechanical stability of extruded Aquivion® 870 (equivalent weight, EW = 870 g·mol−1) was related to an increase of long-range order. Complementary differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) measurements confirmed the increase of polymer stiffness by the annealing treatment with an enhancement of the storage modulus over the whole range of temperature. The main thermomechanical relaxation temperature is also enhanced. DSC measurements showed slight base line changes after annealing, attributable to the glass transition and melting of a small amount of crystalline phase. The difference between the glass transition and melting temperatures derived from INCA plots and the ionic-cluster transition temperature derived from DMA measurements is consistent with the different experimental conditions, especially the dry atmosphere in DMA. Finally, the annealing procedure was also successfully applied for the first time to an un-crystallized cast membrane (EW = 830 g·mol−1) resulting in a remarkable mechanical and thermal stabilization.

We synthesized anion exchange polymers by a reaction of chloromethylated poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene)oxide (PPO) with strongly basic 1,5,7-triazabicyclo[4.4.0]dec-5-ene (TBD). TBD contains secondary and tertiary amine groups in the guanidine portion. To favor the functionalization with the secondary amine, TBD was activated with butyl lithium. The yield of amine formation via the reaction of the benzyl chloride moiety with TBD was 85%. Furthermore, we prepared polymers with quaternary ammonium groups by the reaction of PPO-TBD with CH3I. The synthesis pathways and ionomer structure were investigated by NMR spectroscopy. The thermal decomposition of both ionomers, studied by thermogravimetry, started above 200 °C, corresponding to the loss of the basic group. The ion exchange capacities, water uptake and volumetric swelling are also reported. The “intrinsic” anion conductivity of PPO-TBD due to the dissociation of grafted TBD was in the order of 1 mS/cm (Cl form). The quaternized ionomer (PPO-TBD-Me) showed an even larger ionic conductivity, above 10 mS/cm at 80 °C in fully humidified conditions.

In this work we report the synthesis of the new ionomer poly(alkylene biphenyl butyltrimethyl ammonium) (ABBA) with a backbone devoid of alkaline-labile C-O-C bonds and with quaternary ammonium groups grafted on long side chains. The ionomer was achieved by metalation reaction with n-butyllithium of 2-bromobiphenyl, followed by the introduction of the long chain with 1,4-dibromobutane. The reaction steps were followed by 1H-NMR spectroscopy showing the characteristic signals of the Br-butyl chain and indicating the complete functionalization of the biphenyl moiety. The precursor was polycondensed with 1,1,1-trifluoroacetone and then quaternized using trimethylamine (TMA). After the acid catalyzed polycondensation, the stoichiometric ratio between the precursors was respected. The quaternization with TMA gave a final degree of amination of 0.83 in agreement with the thermogravimetric analysis and with the ion exchange capacity of 2.5 meq/g determined by acid–base titration. The new ionomer blended with poly(vinylalcohol) (PVA) or poly(vinylidene difluoride) (PVDF) was also characterized by water uptake (WU) and ionic conductivity measurements. The higher water uptake and ionic conductivity observed with the PVDF blend might be related to a better nanophase separation.

In this work we report the synthesis of poly(vinylbenzylchloride-co-hexene) copolymer grafted with N,N-dimethylhexylammonium groups to study the effect of an aliphatic backbone without ether linkage on the ionomer properties. The copolymerization was achieved by the Ziegler–Natta method, employing the complex ZrCl4 (THF)2 as a catalyst. A certain degree of crosslinking with N,N,N′,N′-tetramethylethylenediamine (TEMED) was introduced with the aim of avoiding excessive swelling in water. The resulting anion exchange polymers were characterized by 1H-NMR, FTIR, TGA, and ion exchange capacity (IEC) measurements. The ionomers showed good alkaline stability; after 72 h of treatment in 2 M KOH at 80 °C the remaining IEC of 76% confirms that ionomers without ether bonds are less sensitive to a SN2 attack and suggests the possibility of their use as a binder in a fuel cell electrode formulation. The ionomers were also blended with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and crosslinked with glutaraldehyde. The water uptake of the blend membranes was around 110% at 25 °C. The ionic conductivity at 25 °C in the OH− form was 29.5 mS/cm.