Preparation and characterization of hexagonal boron nitride and PAMPS-NMPA-based thin composite films and investigation of their membrane properties

The preparation, thermal, morphological, and ion-conducting properties of new composite membranes based on poly(2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid) (PAMPS) and nitrilotri(methylphosphonic acid) (NMPA)/hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) were carried out throughout this work. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used to characterize the interactions between host polymer, NMPA, and inorganic additive, hBN. Thermal properties of the materials were examined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) tests. TGA results illustrated that all composite membranes are thermally stable up to 200 °C. The surface topography of the films was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and verified that hBN uniformly dispersed into the PAMPS-NMPA matrix. The crystallinity of the membranes was characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD). X-ray patterns support semicrystalline nature of the composite materials. At anhydrous conditions, the maximum proton conductivity was found as 3.2?×?10^?5 S cm^?1 at 150 °C for PAMPS-NMPA-3hBN via impedance analyzer.