Improving the conductivity and dimensional stability of anion exchange membranes by grafting of quaternized dendrons |
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| Authors: | Xiangtai Wei Jianrong Wu Hao Jiang Xinsheng Zhao Yuanqin Zhu |
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| Affiliation: | 1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Electrochemical Energy Materials, Guangxi University, Nanning, P. R. China;2. School of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, P. R. China |
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| Abstract: | High conductivity is critical for the practical applications of anion exchange membranes (AEMs) in fuel cells. In this study, a new strategy for enhanced conductivity and dimensional stability of AEMs by incorporating quaternized dendrons is proposed. Thanks to the introduced quaternized dendrons, distinct nanoscale phase separation and well-connected ion conductive channels are formed in the as-prepared membranes (PPO-QG-x). As a result, PPO-QG-x AEMs achieve high hydroxide conductivities up to 65.5 mS cm−1 at 20 °C and 121.5 mS cm−1 at 80 °C (IEC = 1.95 mmol g−1), while possessing good dimensional stability. Meanwhile, PPO-QG-x AEMs show good alkaline stability with the maximum loss in conductivity of 15.1% after treated in 2 M NaOH at 80 °C for 960 h. In addition, the single-cell assembled with PPO-QG-12 membrane exhibit a peak power density of 249.4 mW cm−2 at 60 °C. Overall, this work provides a new insight to achieve high conductivity of AEMs. |
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| Keywords: | anion exchange membranes conductivity dendrons fuel cells microphase separation |
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