Field‐Assisted Self‐Assembly of Nanocomposite Films

A continuous process for manufacturing proton‐exchange membranes featuring z‐direction‐aligned, proton‐conducting particles or polymers*

“…Electric field-assisted aligned membranes were prepared by casting composite or polymer blend membranes onto an aluminum substrate that was moved by a poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET)-coated steel belt on a custom-built, pilot plant/commercial-scale electromagnetic roll-to-roll processing machine (EMP) equipped with the capability to apply an AC electric field normal to the plane of the film . [43][44][45] The aluminum substrate was grounded by a wire connected to the steel carrier. The membranes were cast from mixtures of NP1.6 nanoparticles dispersed in a 22 wt% PS/DMAc solution, NP2.0 nanoparticles dispersed in NOA65, or a 20 wt% solution of 2.1SPEEK and PS.…”

“…A laboratory-scale continuous process for ion-conducting membranes has been reported, [29] while other papers [30][31][32] describe the production of z-aligned nanoparticle (clay, graphene, or barium titanate) composite membranes suitable for capacitor, thermal conductivity, ion exchange, and electromagnetic shielding applications. In these instances, a custom-built, commercialscale, roll-to-roll film manufacturing platform [43][44][45] was used, permitting the application of a z-directed electric or magnetic field during soluton-casting of the film. Such equipment is more practical for producing cost-effective, fieldaligned membranes.…”

“…The objective of the research described in this paper was to demonstrate the manufacture of two-phase, composite and polymer blend PEMs with a target morphology shown in Figure 1C using the roll-to-roll platform described in Refs. [43][44][45]. More specifically, this paper describes the z-directed alignment of a conductive, dispersed polymer phase in composite and polymer blend membranes using an alternating (AC) electric field incorporated into a commercial or pilot plant scale continuous roll-to-roll manufacturing process.…”