Comparison of alkaline stability of benzyltrimethylammonium, benzylmethylimidazolium and benzyldimethylimidazolium functionalized poly(arylene ether ketone) anion exchange membranes

Sustainion Imidazolium‐Functionalized Polymers for Carbon Dioxide Electrolysis

“…So we wished to find an alternative and we focused on imidazolium‐containing polymers. Several imidazolium‐containing polymers have been reported previously . We decided to concentrate on imidazolium‐functionalized styrene and vinylbenzyl chloride (VBC) based polymers because they were easy to synthesize and showed the needed performance.…”

Synthesis of novel copolymers based on p-methylstyrene, N,N-butylvinylimidazolium and polybenzimidazole as highly conductive anion exchange membranes for fuel cell application

“…A large number of polymers especially aromatics like polyethers, polysulfones, polyketones and polystyrenes have been investigated through functionalization with quaternary ammonium (QA) groups and explored for use as AEM materials. 13 This class of membranes considered as a trigger point for research in the fuel cell manufacture 2 is more and more investigated to be a good substitute to PEMFCs, 14 and great efforts to develop AEM for electrochemical application 15 have been seen in the last years due to their capability to operate in an alkaline medium 5 rather than the acidic one, where the electrochemical reactions are easier. 2 It enables the use of non-noble metals as good catalysts like silver, cobalt, or nickel for fuel-cell operation, which involves a low cost compared to the use of PEMFC.…”

“…2 It enables the use of non-noble metals as good catalysts like silver, cobalt, or nickel for fuel-cell operation, which involves a low cost compared to the use of PEMFC. 2,13,[15][16][17] Another good property for AEM is the reduction of fuel crossover as the electro-osmotic drag goes in the opposite direction to that in PEMFCs. 18 AEMs require a high conductivity-usually achieved via high ion exchange capacity (IEC), 5 a low degree of swelling, a good mechanical aspect, and stability under chemical and thermal conditions.…”

“…19 However, AEMs still need some improvements to perform well. Therefore, so many researchers are active in order to improve their conductivity and alkaline stability 2,14,15 and many scientic efforts have been paid for the design of new AEMs with better properties. 20 For this advanced AEM materials, the following criteria are believed the crucial: (1) development of new methods so that the control of the position and degree of graing is suitable.…”

“…14 As example, the improvement of ionic conductivity has successfully been achieved by choosing the right position of quaternary ammonium (QA) groups and the dimensional water swelling can easily be controlled via covalent cross-linking; 20 (2) good choice of polymer backbones with an important alkaline-resistant and thermal stability; (3) incorporation of only stable cations into the polymer backbone. 14 Other different criteria have been set for AEMs: (1) the membrane must reach higher conductivity than 100 mS cm À1 as it is obvious that conductivity for the current AEMs is not as high as that of PEMs 2,14,15,21 (2) must be chemically stable in an alkaline medium, and (3) must exhibit a good stress and strain 14,21 because normally a high ionic conductivity leads to poor properties, especially the mechanical strength, which is the most affected performance. 2 Obviously, the major challenge for the current development of AEM is achieving a high conductivity as in PEM, and the most effective way is to attain a high IEC with a moderate swelling ratio.…”