Nature Communications (Mar 2021)

Green synthesis of olefin-linked covalent organic frameworks for hydrogen fuel cell applications

  • Zhifang Wang,
  • Yi Yang,
  • Zhengfeng Zhao,
  • Penghui Zhang,
  • Yushu Zhang,
  • Jinjin Liu,
  • Shengqian Ma,
  • Peng Cheng,
  • Yao Chen,
  • Zhenjie Zhang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22288-9
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 8

Abstract

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Abstract Green synthesis of crystalline porous materials for energy-related applications is of great significance but very challenging. Here, we create a green strategy to fabricate a highly crystalline olefin-linked pyrazine-based covalent organic framework (COF) with high robustness and porosity under solvent-free conditions. The abundant nitrogen sites, high hydrophilicity, and well-defined one-dimensional nanochannels make the resulting COF an ideal platform to confine and stabilize the H3PO4 network in the pores through hydrogen-bonding interactions. The resulting material exhibits low activation energy (Ea) of 0.06 eV, and ultrahigh proton conductivity across a wide relative humidity (10–90 %) and temperature range (25–80 °C). A realistic proton exchange membrane fuel cell using the olefin-linked COF as the solid electrolyte achieve a maximum power of 135 mW cm−2 and a current density of 676 mA cm−2, which exceeds all reported COF materials.