Polyethylene-based radiation grafted anion-exchange membranes for alkaline fuel cells

Abstract

/npsi/ctrl?lang=en http://nparc.cisti-icist.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/npsi/ctrl?lang=fr Access and use of this website and the material on it are subject to the Terms and Conditions set forth at http://nparc.cisti-icist.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/npsi/jsp/nparc_cp.jsp?lang=en NRC Publications Archive Archives des publications du CNRCThis publication could be one of several versions: author's original, accepted manuscript or the publisher's version. / La version de cette publication peut être l'une des suivantes : la version prépublication de l'auteur, la version acceptée du manuscrit ou la version de l'éditeur. For the publisher's version, please access the DOI link below./ Pour consulter la version de l'éditeur, utilisez le lien DOI ci-dessous.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2013.03.053 Science, 441, pp. 148-157, 2013-04-10 Polyethylene-based radiation grafted anion-exchange membranes for alkaline fuel cells Sherazi, Tauqir A.; Sohn, Joon Yong; Lee, Young Moo; Guiver, Michael D. Journal of Membrane AbstractVinyl benzyl chloride was grafted onto ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene powder (UHMWPE) by radiation grafting. The grafted powder was subsequently fabricated into membrane by melt pressing. The effect of absorbed radiation dose on the degree of grafting (DG) is discussed. The melt-flow properties of PVBC grafted PE with low degree of grafting was conducive to forming homogeneous pore-free membranes, which was confirmed by scanning electron microscopic analysis. The grafted polyethylene membranes were post functionalized with trimethylamine, followed by alkalization to obtain anion-exchange membranes (AEMs). The structures of the resulting AEMs were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, which showed that the grafted membranes were successfully functionalized. The properties of the AEMs, including ion exchange capacity, water uptake, in-plane swelling, methanol uptake, methanol permeability, and hydroxide ion conductivity were investigated. The AEMs showed reasonably good chemical stability, as evidenced by the ion exchange capacity being maintained for a long duration, even in highly alkaline conditions. The membranes exhibited a maximum ionic conductivity of 47.5 mS cm −1 at 90 °C (30 mS cm -1 at 60 °C).Methanol permeability was found to be in the order of 10 −8 cm 2 s -1 , which is considerably lower than that of Nafion ® . The membranes have useful properties consistent with anion exchange membranes suitable for alkaline fuel cells.

A review of radiation-grafted polymer electrolyte membranes for alkaline polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

“…The radiant energy can effectively penetrates the polymer bulk and thoroughly activates the matrix, so the reaction progresses to completion and the grafting efficiency is enhanced [31,34,36]. Furthermore, the membrane nonselectively absorbs the ionizing radiation, so the grafting reaction is more extensive.…”

“…Poly(phenylene oxide) (PPO) has emerged as one of the most promising polymers for the fabrication of anion-exchange membranes due to its excellent physicochemical properties. In this regard, Sherazi et al [36] prepared fuel cell membranes by radiation grafting of VBC onto polyethylene (PE) powder, followed by membrane fabrication, quaternization, and alkalization. They focused on grafting poly(-vinylbenzyl chloride) onto ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) powder by g ( 60 Co) irradiation.…”

“…It should be noted that ionic conductivity is intimately related to the working temperature. For example, Sherazi et al [36] carried out studies on the hydroxide ion conductivities of alkaline membranes (named PE-g-PVBC-TOH) at different temperatures, as shown in Fig. 18.…”

“…The low chemical stability of AEM4(OH) was considered to originate from the bisquaternary ammonium group, which is known to be liable to nucleophilic substitution by hydroxide ions. Sherazi et al [36] investigated the chemical stability of alkaline membranes by observing changes in IEC values with time and by varying the concentration of NaOH solution, as shown in Fig. 21.…”

Hybrid anion exchange membranes with self‐assembled ionic channels

“…[2] As a key component, the anion exchange membrane (AEM) is one of the research focuses on AEMFCs owing to the absence of AEMs which meets the requirements for AEMFCs. [3] As a consequence, considerable efforts have been made to develop novel AEMs with high performances and many new AEM materials have been reported, including quaternized poly(ether ether ketone), [4,5] quaternized poly(sulfone), [6][7][8] imidazolium-functionalized poly (ether sulfone), [9] quaternized poly(ether-imide), [10] quaternized polybutadiene-b-poly(4-methylstyrene), [11] quaternized poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene oxide), [12][13][14] quaternized copoly(arylene ether sulfone)s, [15][16][17] quaternized poly(aryl ether oxadiazole), [18] quaternized poly(tetraphenyl ether ketone sulfone), [19] quaternary poly(arylene ether ketone), [20] poly(arylene ether)s containing quaternized ammonio-substituted fluorene groups, [21] quaternary phosphonium-functionalized poly(sulfone), [22] guanidiniumfunctionalized poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene oxide), [23] phenylguanidinium-functionalized perfluorinated polymer, [24] permethyl cobaltocenium functionalized poly(sulfone), [25] modified commercial polymers by introduction of hydrophilic additives, [26][27][28][29][30] grafting, [31,32] reinforcement, [33] and semiinterpenetrating polymer network. [34] Some homogeneous AEMs showed phase-separated, bicontinuous morphologies and well-developed ionic channels through cleverly designed structures.…”