Effect of the sulfonation on membranes synthetized from SEBS and natural latex

Abstract

In the present work, proton exchange membranes from the SEBS copolymer and latex were synthesized and modified with the addition of vanadium pentoxide and sulfonation to evaluate its application in a fuel cell. Through the FTIR analysis the modifications of the polymer were evidenced. The results show that the increase of the sulfonation time increased the water uptake, the ion exchange capacity and the mechanical properties of the membrane due to the hydrophilic character of the sulfonic groups added to the polymer. In the loaded and sulfonated membranes, the results favored to a greater extent the membrane loaded 0.5% and sulfonated 2 hours due to the good interaction between the load and the sulfonic groups, but it is necessary to increase the ion exchange capacity for its use in fuel cells.