Multiblock poly(Phenylene ether nitrile)s with pendant sulfoalkoxyl side chain for H2/air fuel cells at low humidity condition |
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Authors: | Tiandu Dong Bin He Xinze Li Congcong Wu Nanwen Li Mitsuru Ueda Xuan Zhang Lianjun Wang |
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Institution: | 1. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, School of Environmental and Biological Engineering, Nanjing University of Science & Technology, Nanjing, China;2. State Key Laboratory of Coal Conversion, Institute of Coal Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Taiyuan, China;3. Department of Organic and Polymeric Materials, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Meguro‐Ku, Tokyo, Japan |
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Abstract: | A series of multiblock poly(phenylene ether nitrile)s with pendant sulfoalkoxyl side chains have been developed as proton exchange membranes for fuel cells. The membranes were obtained by a solution casting method and exhibited good thermal stability, flexibility, and mechanical strength. The membranes displayed well‐developed microphase separation, which largely contributed to their excellent ion conduction ability. One of the new membranes with a low ion exchange capacity of 1.57 mequiv g?1 showed higher proton conductivity than Nafion 212 over the entire RH range (30–95%). The maximum power output generated in a single cell test reached up to 0.754, 0.640, and 0.414 W cm?2 at 70 °C under 80%, 50%, and 30% RH conditions, respectively. The current density of the membrane obtained at 0.6 V (I 0.6) was as high as 640 mA cm?2, which was much higher than that of Nafion 212 (375 mA cm?2 at 30% RH), suggesting its superiority for a more rapid system start‐up. Furthermore, the in situ durability test at 50% RH was performed at a constant current loading, and the membrane did not show any significant voltage reduction over the 400 h testing period. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2017 , 55 , 1940–1948 |
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Keywords: | durability fuel cell performance low relatively humidity mechanical properties membranes microphase separation multiblock poly(phenylene ether nitrile) proton conductivity proton exchange membrane |
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