A new hyperbranched sulfonated poly(arylene aliphatic ketones) (HB‐SPAAK) has been synthesized and loaded with titania nanoparticles to obtain HB‐SPAAK/TiO2 nanocomposites for thermally stable proton‐conducting electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) applications. The synthesis of HB‐SPAAKs was carried out through the polycondensation reaction of different aliphatic and aromatic acids with simultaneous loss of H2O, trifluromethane sulfonic acid used as catalyst. The long chain hyperbranched polymers and TiO2‐loaded nanocomposites were characterized by FT‐IR, 1H‐NMR, SEM and HR‐TEM. Proton conductivity (PC), swelling ratio, water uptake and oxidative stability. The SEM image of TiO2 NPs and HB‐SPAAKs/TiO2 nanocomposites membrane clearly showed the spherical of TiO2 and porous structure of HB‐SPAAKs with a pore diameter of 2–50 μm. TEM image reveals the uniform particle size distribution of TiO2 nanoparticles having a nanosize of 100 nm. TiO2 loaded polymer nanocomposites showed lower values of W/U and S/R when compared to the unmodified HB‐SPAAK, while 3% TiO2 loaded HB‐SPAAKs exhibited a threefold increment of proton conductivity of 1.439 × 10−2 S cm−1 compared to HB‐SPAAKs (0.41 x 10−2 S cm−1) and lower than that of Nafion 117 (0.1003 S cm−1 at 80°C). The 5% TiO2 NPs‐embedded with HB‐SPAAKs nanocomposites membranes also presented admirable oxidative stability with a degradation value of 13.8% during immersion in Fenton reagent for 8 h at 70°C.
Sulfonated polyphenylene sulphide sulfone (sPPSS) loaded with titania-graphene (TiO 2 -GNS) was synthesized by the polycondensation method and studied their suitability towards proton exchange membrane fuel cell applications. The structural, morphological, and physic-chemical properties of sPPSS nanocomposites containing varying amounts of (1%, 2%, 3%, and 5%) TiO 2 -GNS was investigated by Fourier transform infrared, H 1 -NMR, P-XRD, FE-SEM, HR-TEM, Raman spectrum, swelling ratio (SR), water uptake, thermal analysis, oxidative stability (OS) and proton conductivity. Further, the obtained TiO 2 -GNS dispersed polymer membrane exhibits greatly reduced water absorption 4.44% and a less volume SR (15.6%). The 5 wt% TiO 2 -GNS dispersed sPPSS nanocomposites exhibited a PC value around 2.03 Â 10 À2 S/cm at 110 C. The sPPSS nanocomposites membrane confirmed admirable OS with a maximum degradation of 39.15% during immersed in the Fenton reagent for 6 h at 80 C.
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