Synthesis and proton conductivity studies of methacrylate/methacrylamide‐based azole functional novel polymer electrolytes

Abstract

Anhydrous polymer electrolytes based on azole functional methacrylates and methacrylamides have been produced for use in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Poly(methacryloyl chloride) (PMAC) was prepared first by free-radical polymerization of methacryloyl chloride, followed by side chain functionalization with 5-aminotetrazole (ATet), 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole (ATri) and 1H-1,2,4-triazole (Tri). Finally, the obtained polymers were doped with triflic acid (TA) at stoichometric ratios of 1.0, 2.0 and 4.0 with respect to azole units, and the anhydrous polymer electrolytes were obtained. The membranes were characterized by FT-IR, 13 C-NMR, and elemental analysis. Thermal behaviour of polymers was explored by TGA and DSC. The samples were thermally stable up to approximately 200 o C. Proton conductivity was measured by impedance spectroscopy. Trifilic acid doped poly(methacryloyl aminotetrazole) (PMAATet-(TA) 4 ), poly(methacryloyl-3-amino-1,2,4-triazole) (PMA-Tri-(TA) 4 ), and poly(methacryloyl-1,2,4-triazole) (PMA-ATri-(TA) 4 ) showed maximum proton conductivities of 0.01 Scm 21 , 0.02 Scm 21 and 8.7x10 24 Scm 21 , respectively, at 150 C and anhydrous conditions.

Investigation of proton conductivity of anhydrous proton exchange membranes prepared via grafting vinyltriazole onto alkaline-treated PVDF

“…It was noted that the surface roughness depends on the curvature and size of the AFM tip and on the image processing. 1,5,73 The RMS mean values and the standard deviations were obtained by analyzing at least six AFM images. The RMS roughness of the obtained graft copolymers (C1-C3) decreased from 139.04 nm to 25.89 nm when the PVTri amount was increased from 1 to 4 g (Table 2).…”

“…The irregularities at the low frequency side correspond to polarization blocking the electrode-electrolyte interface and the conductivity increase at low temperature and high frequencies results from the regular dispersion in polymer electrolytes. 1,4,5,7,74 Maximum proton conductivities of the obtained PEMs are listed in Table 3.…”

“…The proton exchange membrane (PEM) is a critical component in PEMFCs, and plays a significant role as an electrolyte in transporting protons between the electrodes and as a barrier in the prevention of mixing of the fuel gases. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] For decades, the representative proton conducting polymer electrolyte membranes have been perfluorosulfonic acid polymers, such as Nafion from Du Pont, which have excellent electrochemical, mechanical and thermal properties and provide high proton conductivity in the fully hydrated state. [1][2][3]7,8 Besides its high cost, a major weakness of Nafion is its low proton conductivity under low-humidity conditions, which leads to poor fuel cell performance at higher temperatures.…”

Synergistic effect of aluminium phosphate and tungstophosphoric acid on the physicochemical properties of sulfonated poly ether ether ketone nanocomposite membrane

“…5 In this direction, sulfonated poly ethers and polysulfones based PEMs were investigated by several researchers. [6][7][8] Sulfonated poly ether ether ketone (SPEEK) was the most commonly studied alternative PEM owing to its low cost and flexibility in functionalization. Although SPEEK was most commonly used polymer for PEMs; however, extensive swelling at high degree of sulfonation (DS) makes it mechanically unstable for fabrication of MEA.…”

An Investigation of Proton Conductivity of Vinyltriazole-Grafted PVDF Proton Exchange Membranes Prepared via Photoinduced Grafting

“…Quite recently, proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEM-FCs), also referred to as polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), have garnered a great deal of attention which can be applied to a wide range of application areas such as water purification, gas separation, and fuel cells [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Proton exchange membranes (PEMs) are the key components in fuel cell systems and serve as an electrolyte for transporting protons from the anode to the cathode and as a separator to prevent mixing of the fuel gases [1,3,4,10].…”