Partially fluorinated sulfonated poly(arylene sulfone)s blended with polybenzimidazole

Abstract

A partially fluorinated and sulfonated poly(arylene sulfone) (SPSO) was successfully synthesized via nucleophilic polycondensation of 2,2‐bis(4‐fluorophenyl)hexafluoro‐propane with 4,4′‐thiobisbenzenethiol (TBBT). In a second step, the prepared poly(arylene sulfide) was oxidized to SPSO. The polymer was blended with the polybenzimidazole PBIOO® to obtain a mechanically stable membrane. This film was compared with other polymer blends, which were synthesized in our group in the last years. We were especially interested in the influence of different bridging groups such as ether, ketone, and sulfone groups. The affect on properties such as water uptake (WU), thermal stability, proton conductivity, and oxidative stability were analyzed in this work. Additionally, the blend membranes were characterized by gel permeation chromatography. The novel SPSO blend shows a high molecular weight, and its blend membrane with PBIOO has an excellent onset of SO3H group splitting‐off temperature (T SO 3H,onset) of 334 °C. The proton conductivity amounts to 0.11 S cm−1, and the water uptake reaches 30%. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011

Building bridges: Crosslinking of sulfonated aromatic polymers—A review

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Polystyrenes containing flexible alkylsulfonated side chains as a proton exchange membrane for fuel cell application

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Polycondensation of structurally divergent tetraamine monomers with dicarboxylic acids to synthesize polybenzimidazole copolymers for polymer electrolyte membranes

“…The biggest dilemma in the use of PA doped PBI as a PEM is the balancing of thermomechanical stability and acid loading which in turn controls the proton conductivity and hence the cell performance. Several techniques have been developed to tackle this problem and among these (a) the synthesis of new PBI structures, (b) the development of a new membrane fabrication method and (c) preparations of blends and nanocomposites etc . are the most discussed methods.…”