TY - JOUR
T1 - Silicone-containing polymer blend electrolyte membranes for fuel cell applications
AU - Hwang, Byungchan
AU - Kondo, Shoichi
AU - Kikuchi, Takamasa
AU - Sasaki, Kazunari
AU - Hayashi, Akari
AU - Nishihara, Masamichi
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support by Grant‐in‐Aid for Scientific Research (C) (26410223), JSPS Japan, “Center of Innovation Science and Technology based Radical Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program (COI Program)”, JST Japan, Research Support Program for Young Researchers and Doctoral Students (Q‐PIT, Kyushu University), Iwatani Naoji Foundation's Research Grant and collaboration research with Nissan Chemical Industries, Ltd. Thanks also to Associate Prof. Stephen Lyth for checking this manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC.
PY - 2021/5/10
Y1 - 2021/5/10
N2 - Polymer electrolyte membranes are developed from blends of chemically durable silicone-containing epoxy (Si-Epoxy) and proton conducting sulfonic polyimide (SPI). A charge-transfer (CT) complex is formed between electron-donating dihydroxynaphthalene units in Si-Epoxy, and electron-accepting naphthalenediimide units in SPI, as confirmed via X-ray diffraction and visible spectroscopy. The blend membranes show comparable mechanical strength to Nafion 211, but the elongation to break is much lower, indicating better resistance to deformation under strain stress, attributed to CT complex formation. The chemical durability of the blend membranes was much higher than pure SPI according to Fenton's test, also attributed to CT complex formation. Meanwhile, the proton conductivity is dependent on the sulfonic acid content of the SPI, which in turn affects the fuel cell performance. The maximum proton conductivity was measured to be 23.1 mS cm−1 at 80°C and 90 %RH for a 1:1 blend, and the membranes were successfully incorporated into PEFCs.
AB - Polymer electrolyte membranes are developed from blends of chemically durable silicone-containing epoxy (Si-Epoxy) and proton conducting sulfonic polyimide (SPI). A charge-transfer (CT) complex is formed between electron-donating dihydroxynaphthalene units in Si-Epoxy, and electron-accepting naphthalenediimide units in SPI, as confirmed via X-ray diffraction and visible spectroscopy. The blend membranes show comparable mechanical strength to Nafion 211, but the elongation to break is much lower, indicating better resistance to deformation under strain stress, attributed to CT complex formation. The chemical durability of the blend membranes was much higher than pure SPI according to Fenton's test, also attributed to CT complex formation. Meanwhile, the proton conductivity is dependent on the sulfonic acid content of the SPI, which in turn affects the fuel cell performance. The maximum proton conductivity was measured to be 23.1 mS cm−1 at 80°C and 90 %RH for a 1:1 blend, and the membranes were successfully incorporated into PEFCs.
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U2 - 10.1002/app.50328
DO - 10.1002/app.50328
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85096801266
SN - 0021-8995
VL - 138
JO - Journal of Applied Polymer Science
JF - Journal of Applied Polymer Science
IS - 18
M1 - 50328
ER -