Polymer electrolyte fuel cell performance of poly(arylene ether ketone)-graft-crosslinked-poly(sulfonated arylene ether sulfone)

• Published in: Journal of power sources Vol. 247; pp. 932 - 938
• Main Authors: HARA, Ryousuke, ENDO, Nobutaka, HIGA, Mitsuru, OKAMOTO, Ken-Ichi, XUAN ZHANG, HUIPING BI, SHANSHAN CHEN, ZHAOXIA HU, SHOUWEN CHEN
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier 01.02.2014
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Copolymers; Direct energy conversion and energy accumulation; Electrical engineering. Electrical power engineering; Electrical power engineering; Electrochemical conversion: primary and secondary batteries, fuel cells; Electrolytes; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Equipments for energy generation and conversion: thermal, electrical, mechanical energy, etc; Ethers; Exact sciences and technology; Fuel cells; Graft copolymers; Membranes; Sulfones; Uptakes; Ethersulfone copolymer; Performance evaluation; Polymeric membrane; Polymer electrolytes; Graft copolymer; Ether; Graft-crosslinked copolymer; Polymer solid electrolyte; Ethersulfone polymer; Ketone; Sulfonate; Crosslinked copolymer; Polymer electrolyte membrane; Ion exchange membrane; Multiblock copolymer; Crosslinked polymer; Aromatic copolymer; Performance; Proton exchange membrane fuel cells; Solid electrolyte fuel cells; Polymer electrolyte fuel cell; Sulfonated aromatic multiblock copolymer
• ISSN: 0378-7753; 1873-2755
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2013.08.121

The physical properties and polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) performance of the graft-crosslinked copolymers based on hydrophobic poly(arylene ether ketone) main chains graft-crosslinked with hydrophilic sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) segments were investigated in comparison with those of the sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) multi-block copolymer (bSPAES) and Nafion 112. The graft-crosslinked copolymers with ion exchange capacity (IEC) of 1.90 and 1.58 meq g-1 (GC(1/3) and GC(1/5), respectively) showed the much lower water uptakes and smaller in-plane dimensional changes than bSPAES with IEC of 2.04 meq g-1, resulting in the higher membrane stability. GC(1/3) showed the highest PEFC performances at conditions of 90 degree C, 0.2-0.1 MPa and 82-30% RH among these membranes. GC(1/5) also showed the higher or similar PEFC performances when compared to bSPAES and Nafion 112. GC(1/5) showed much better PEFC durability than bSPAES. The graft-crosslinked copolymers have high potential as polymer electrolyte membranes for fuel cell applications.