Acid–base
pairs hold great superiority in creating proton
defects and facilitating proton transfer with less or no water. However,
the existing acid–base complexes fail in assembling into ordered
acid–base pairs and thus cannot always take full advantage
of the acid–base synergetic effect. Herein, polymer quantum
dots with inherent ordered acid–base pairs are utilized and
anchored on dopamine-coated graphene oxide, thus forming into long-range
conducting pathways. The resultant building blocks (
n
PGO) are integrated in a sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone)
matrix to fabricate composite membranes. The constructed long-range
transfer highways with ordered acid–base pairs impart to the
composite membrane significantly enhanced proton conduction ability.
Under the hydrated state, the composite membrane attains 91% increase
over the control membrane in conductivity, and the single-cell fuel
based on the membrane achieves 71% promotion in maximum power density.
Under anhydrous conditions, more striking augment in conduction is
observed for the composite membrane, reaching 7.14 mS cm–1, almost 10 times of the control membrane value (0.78 mS cm–1). Remarkably, such anhydrous proton conduction performance is even
comparable to that of the composite membrane impregnated with ionic
liquids, which is hard to realize with conventional fillers. Collectively,
these results endow composite membranes great potential for applications
in hydrogen-based fuel cells, sensors, and catalysis.
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