Polybenzimidazole Confined in Semi-Interpenetrating Networks of Crosslinked Poly (Arylene Ether Ketone) for High Temperature Proton Exchange Membrane
Erli Qu,
Junqiao Jiang,
Min Xiao,
Dongmei Han,
Sheng Huang,
Zhiheng Huang,
Shuanjin Wang,
Yuezhong Meng
Affiliations
Erli Qu
The Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Chemistry & Energy Conservation of Guangdong Province, State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
Junqiao Jiang
The Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Chemistry & Energy Conservation of Guangdong Province, State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
Min Xiao
The Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Chemistry & Energy Conservation of Guangdong Province, State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
Dongmei Han
The Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Chemistry & Energy Conservation of Guangdong Province, State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
Sheng Huang
The Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Chemistry & Energy Conservation of Guangdong Province, State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
Zhiheng Huang
The Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Chemistry & Energy Conservation of Guangdong Province, State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
Shuanjin Wang
The Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Chemistry & Energy Conservation of Guangdong Province, State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
Yuezhong Meng
The Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Chemistry & Energy Conservation of Guangdong Province, State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
As a traditional high-temperature proton exchange membrane (HT-PEM), phosphoric acid (PA)-doped polybenzimidazole (PBI) is often subject to severe mechanical strength deterioration owing to the “plasticizing effect” of a large amount of PA. In order to address this issue, we fabricated the HT-PEMs with a crosslinked network of poly (arylene ether ketone) to confine polybenzimidazole in semi-interpenetration network using self-synthesized amino-terminated PBI (PBI-4NH2) as a crosslinker. Compared with the pristine linear poly [2,2′-(p-oxdiphenylene)-5,5′-benzimidazole] (OPBI) membrane, the designed HT-PEMs (semi-IPN/xPBI), in the semi-IPN means that the membranes with a semi-interpenetration structure and x represent the combined weight percentage of PBI-4NH2 and OPBI. In addition, they also demonstrate an enhanced anti-oxidative stability and superior mechanical properties without the sacrifice of conductivity. The semi-IPN/70PBI exhibits a higher proton conductivity than OPBI at temperatures ranging from 80 to 180 °C. The HT-PEMFC with semi-IPN/70PBI exhibits excellent H2/O2 single cell performance with a power density of 660 mW cm−2 at 160 °C with flow rates of 250 and 500 mL min−1 for dry H2 and O2 at a backpressure of 0.03 MPa, which is 18% higher than that of OPBI (561 mW cm−2) under the same test conditions. The results indicate that the introduction of PBI containing crosslinked networks is a promising approach to improve the comprehensive performance of HT-PEMs.
