Membranes (May 2024)

Anion Exchange Membrane with Pendulous Piperidinium on Twisted All-Carbon Backbone for Fuel Cell

  • Huaqing Zhang,
  • Wanjie Song,
  • Lixuan Sun,
  • Cui Yang,
  • Xin Zhang,
  • Mingyue Wu,
  • Liang Wu,
  • Xiaolin Ge,
  • Tongwen Xu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes14060121
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14, no. 6
p. 121

Abstract

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As a central component for anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs), the anion exchange membrane is now facing the challenge of further improving its conductivity and alkali stability. Herein, a twisted all-carbon backbone is designed by introducing stereo-contorted units with piperidinium groups dangled at the twisted sites. The rigid and twisted backbone improves the conduction of hydroxide and brings down the squeezing effect of the backbone on piperidine rings. Accordingly, an anion exchange membrane prepared through this method exhibits adapted OH− conductivity, low swelling ratio and excellent alkali stability, even in high alkali concentrations. Further, a fuel cell assembled with a such-prepared membrane can reach a power density of 904.2 mW/cm2 and be capable of continuous operation for over 50 h. These results demonstrate that the designed membrane has good potential for applications in AEMFCs.

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