Sulfonated Polyethersulfone (SPES) – Charged Surface Modifying Macromolecules (cSMMs) Blends as a Cation Selective Membrane for Fuel Cells

Abstract

Polyethersulfone (PES) was sulfonated by chlorosulfonic acid and concentrated sulfuric acid. The pure sulfonated PES (SPES) and modified SPES membranes were prepared by blending with different charged surface modifying macromolecules (cSMMs) namely, SPES/DEG‐HBS, SPES/PEG‐HBS, and SPES/PPG‐HBS. Membranes were characterized for their morphology, physical properties, and electrochemical properties in order to evaluate these membranes as cation exchange membranes. The blended membranes showed an increase in hydrophilicity, water uptake, and proton conductivity compared to the pure SPES membranes. The highest values of water uptake and proton conductivity were obtained for the SPES/PPG‐HBS blended membrane. Morphological studies revealed that the nodule size and surface roughness also influenced the water uptake, apart from the additional –SO3H group. Among the modified membranes, the SPES/DEG‐HBS blended membrane exhibited a lower methanol permeability value of 8.895 × 10−8 cm2 s−1 than the corresponding SPES membrane. The other two cSMM blended membranes showed higher methanol permeability values than SPES but still a smaller value than Nafion 117. The highest selectivity ratio (i.e., ratio of proton conductivity to methanol permeability) was obtained with the SPES/DEG‐HBS cSMM blended membrane. These results showed that the SPES/cSMM blended membranes have promise for possible use as a cation exchange membrane in fuel cells and electrolyzer applications.

Synergy of supercritical CO2 and superheated H2O for enhanced processability of polyethersulfone towards open cell foams

“…The 1,900–4,000 cm −1 region in the FTIR spectra was omitted for clarity. The peaks at 1,573, 1,478 cm −1 are assigned to the CC stretches in the aromatic ring; 1,320 and 1,295 cm −1 to SO 2 asymmetric stretches; 1,145 cm −1 to SO 2 symmetric stretches . The spectra show no difference in either the total number of peaks or the relative peak heights.…”

Sulfonated graphene oxide/Nafion composite membranes for high temperature and low humidity proton exchange membrane fuel cells

“…IEC value is considered to correspond to the density of functional groups in the PEMs. 47,48 Table 1 lists the IEC value of all prepared membranes. IEC for the pristine Naon membrane was 0.89 meq.…”

Biocatalytic Self-Cleaning Polymer Membranes

“…To reduce the problem of initial fouling different approaches for surface hydrophilization have been investigated such as copolymerization or grafting with hydrophilic monomers [8][9][10][11][12][13][14], blending using hydrophilic polymers [15][16][17][18][19][20], and, finally, chemical modification of the membrane polymer [21].…”