Enhancement in proton conductivity by blending poly(polyoxometalate)-b-poly(hexanoic acid) block copolymers with sulfonated polysulfone

Yin, YH (Yin, Yongheng)^{[ 1 ]} ; Li, HB (Li, Hongbo)^{[ 1 ]} ; Wu, H (Wu, Hong)^{[ 2 ]} ; Wang, W (Wang, Wei)^{[ 3 ]} ; Jiang, ZY (Jiang, Zhongyi)^{[ 2 ]}

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY, 2020, 45(31): 15495-15506

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.04.039

摘要

Designing polymer chains which contain building blocks with well-defined dimension is an efficient method to induce microphase separation and regulate the ionic channels of polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs). In this study, a Wells-Dawson-type poly-oxometalate (POM) is synthesized and chemically bonded to a norbornene derivative to prepare poly (POM) blocks. Then the block copolymer poly (POM)(10)-b-poly (COOH)(300) is fabricated using poly (POM) and poly (COOH) blocks. Finally, the block copolymer is blended with sulfonated polysulfone (SPS). The electrostatic interactions between the block copolymer and SPS confer the blend membrane with enhanced mechanical and dimensional stabilities. Due to the homogenous distribution of POM clusters and the hydrophilic-hydrophobic interactions between POMs and polymer backbones, the adjacent hydrophilic domains are connected and continuous proton-transfer channels are induced. As a result, the blend membrane displays proton conductivity of 0.053 S cm(-1) (25 degrees C, 100% RH) and 1.5 x 10(-2 )S cm(-1) (80 degrees C, 40% RH), which are 2.52 and 6.25 times higher than those of the plain SPS membrane. Furthermore, SPS/POM-BC-30 shows a maximum power density of 164.9 mW cm(-2), which is 54.7% higher than SPS. (C) 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.