Polyethersulfone Membranes: The Effect of Sulfonation on the Properties

Polyethersulphone (PES) is an aromatic thermoplastic, at low environmental impact, evaluated in this work as a promising candidate for new polymer electrolytes in the PEMFCs technology. A sulfonation procedure has been tuned in order to graft sulfonic acid groups on the polymer chains (sPES) and to make it hydrophilic. Homogeneous membranes with different polymer's sulfonation degrees (SD%) have demonstrated excellent mechanical properties and very low permeability toward methanol (important in the DMFCs), even if low proton conductivity. Nanocomposite sPES membranes were prepared by dispersion of highly hydrophilic lamellar particles such as layered double hydroxide (LDH) in the polymer. Deep investigations performed by a combination of PFG-NMR, EIS, XRD, DMA, and scanning electron microscopy have evidenced the exfoliation of the lamellae in polymer matrix. However, a certain anisotropy was evidenced both in the morphology and molecular diffusion, favored in the longitudinal direction (parallel to surface), while completely inhibited in the cross-section. This finding is most likely induced by the polymer structure, therefore particular attention must be paid to the choice of the filler and preparation of the composites.

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“…(2): 20,21 all the sulfonated membranes were found to be stable. (2): 20,21 all the sulfonated membranes were found to be stable.…”

Section: Sulfonation Of Pes Polymermentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward optimization of a robust low‐cost sulfonated‐polyethersulfone containing layered double hydroxide for PEM fuel cells

Simari

Vecchio

Enotiadis

et al. 2019

J of Applied Polymer Sci

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“…All these peaks are absent in PVdF‐ co ‐HFP. Apart from this, three new peaks appearing at 1224 cm −1 assigned to the presence of aryl oxide of PES, COC of PES appears around 1188 cm −1 and the aromatic carbons of PES can be observed around 1580 cm −1 . Thus, the spectra of sPVdF‐ co ‐HFP/PES2, sPVdF‐ co ‐HFP/PES8 blend membranes are quite similar whereas these three peaks are absent in sPVdF‐ co ‐HFP.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…The surface of the membranes was imaged in a scan size of 1 × 1 mm 2 . Before testing, all the pure and blend membranes samples were dried at 100 °C for 24 h under vacuum …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Highly selective sulfonated poly(vinylidene fluoride‐co‐hexafluoropropylene)/poly(ether sulfone) blend proton exchange membranes for direct methanol fuel cells

Devi

Neelakandan

Nagendran

2016

J of Applied Polymer Sci

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Proton exchange membranes (PEMs) based on blends of poly(ether sulfone) (PES) and sulfonated poly(vinylidene fluoride‐co‐hexafluoropropylene) (sPVdF‐co‐HFP) were prepared successfully. Fabricated blend membranes showed favorable PEM characteristics such as reduced methanol permeability, high selectivity, and improved mechanical integrity. Additionally, these membranes afford comparable proton conductivity, good oxidative stability, moderate ion exchange capacity, and reasonable water uptake. To appraise PEM performance, blend membranes were characterized using techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, AC impedance spectroscopy; atomic force microscopy, and thermogravimetry. Addition of hydrophobic PES confines the swelling of the PEM and increases the ultimate tensile strength of the membrane. Proton conductivities of the blend membranes are about 10−3 S cm−1. Methanol permeability of 1.22 × 10−7cm2 s−1 exhibited by the sPVdF‐co‐HFP/PES10 blend membrane is much lower than that of Nafion‐117. AFM studies divulged that the sPVdF‐co‐HFP/PES blend membranes have nodule like structure, which confirms the presence of hydrophilic domain. The observed results demonstrated that the sPVdF‐co‐HFP/PES blend membranes have promise for possible usage as a PEM in direct methanol fuel cells. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016, 133, 43907.

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“…Sulfonation reaction of PES leads to poor macromolecular orientations within the polymer chains resulting in the shift of 2y peaks of sulfonated PES towards lower 2y values in comparison with PES. 48 In addition to the characteristic sulfonation peak, additional 2y peaks at 13.9, 33.25, 39.43 and 58.56, which are characteristic of s-MoS 2 are also present in the s-MoS 2 /sPES composite membrane, confirming the successful incorporation of s-MoS 2 in the sPES matrix. Scanning electron microscopy has been applied to investigate the morphology of the synthesized membrane, and microscale images of the prepared membranes are shown in Fig.…”

Section: Characterization Of Mos 2 S-mos 2 and Membranesmentioning

confidence: 79%

Sulfonated poly(ether sulfone) based sulfonated molybdenum sulfide composite membranes: proton transport properties and direct methanol fuel cell performance

et al. 2020

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Polyethersulfone Membranes: The Effect of Sulfonation on the Properties

Cited by 67 publications

References 31 publications

Toward optimization of a robust low‐cost sulfonated‐polyethersulfone containing layered double hydroxide for PEM fuel cells

Toward optimization of a robust low‐cost sulfonated‐polyethersulfone containing layered double hydroxide for PEM fuel cells

Highly selective sulfonated poly(vinylidene fluoride‐co‐hexafluoropropylene)/poly(ether sulfone) blend proton exchange membranes for direct methanol fuel cells

Sulfonated poly(ether sulfone) based sulfonated molybdenum sulfide composite membranes: proton transport properties and direct methanol fuel cell performance

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