Issue 42, 2020, Issue in Progress

Synthesis and characterization of a novel crosslinkable side-chain sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) copolymer proton exchange membranes

Abstract

A series of novel crosslinkable side-chain sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) copolymers (S-SPAES(x/y)) was prepared from 4,4′-biphenol, 4,4′-difluorodiphenyl sulfone, and a new difluoro aromatic monomer 1-(2,6-difluorophenyl)-2-(3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1,2-ethanedione (DFDMED) via co-polycondensation, demethylation, and further nucleophilic substitution of 1,4-butane sultone. Meanwhile, quinoxaline-based crosslinked copolymers (CS-SPAES(x/y)) were obtained via cyclo-condensation between S-SPAES(x/y) and 3,3′-diaminobenzidine. Both the crosslinkable and crosslinked copolymer membranes exhibit good mechanical properties and high anisotropic membrane swelling. Crosslinkable S-SPAES(1/2) with an ion exchange capacity (IEC) of 2.01 mequiv. g−1 displays a relatively high proton conductivity of 180 mS cm−1 and acceptable single-cell performance, which is attributed to its good microphase separation resulting from the side-chain sulfonated copolymer structures. Compared with S-SPAES(1/1) (IEC of 1.68 mequiv. g−1), crosslinked CS-SPAES(1/2) with a comparable IEC exhibits a larger conductivity of 157 mS cm−1, and significantly higher oxidative stability and lower membrane swelling, suggesting a distinct performance improvement due to the quinoxaline-based crosslinking.

Graphical abstract: Synthesis and characterization of a novel crosslinkable side-chain sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) copolymer proton exchange membranes

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
02 Apr 2020
Accepted
28 May 2020
First published
30 Jun 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Adv., 2020,10, 24772-24783

Synthesis and characterization of a novel crosslinkable side-chain sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) copolymer proton exchange membranes

S. Wang, F. He, Q. Weng, D. Yuan, P. Chen, X. Chen and Z. An, RSC Adv., 2020, 10, 24772 DOI: 10.1039/D0RA02987D

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements