Micro-phase-separated Structure and Proton Conductivity in Aromatic Polymer Electrolyte Membrane

Effect of the addition of hydrated titanium oxide on proton conductivity for aromatic polymer electrolyte membrane

“…Many reports have recently shown that the micro-structures of PEM affect the proton conductivity [12,13,15,16]. Dark field STEM images of Cs + exchanged Membrane-1 are shown in Fig.…”

“…There are some reports showing that the proton conductivity of a PEM with a micro-phase-separated structure is higher than that of a PEM without the micro-phase-separated structure. [13,16]. Hydrophilic domains were considered to function as a proton path.…”

“…Although proton conductivity is increased by increasing the ion exchange capacity of the PEM, the water content rate is also increased and the mechanical characteristics worsen. To improve proton conductivity of the PEM, many researchers have studied PEMs that have micro-phaseseparated structures [12,13,15,16]. They reported that micro-phaseseparated structures were formed in a PEM composed of a multi-block copolymer.…”

“…Perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) membranes are commonly used because of their high proton conductivity and chemical stability. Aromatic polymer electrolyte membranes have also been widely studied for PEM [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. For example, sulfonated polyether sulfone (S-PES), sulfonated polyether ether ketone (S-PEEK), sulfonated polyphenylene (S-PP), and sulfonated polyimide (S-PI) have been investigated because these materials show good thermal stability and mechanical strength.…”