Enhancing water retention and low-humidity proton conductivity of sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) composite membrane enabled by the polymer-microcapsules with controllable hydrophilicity–hydrophobicity

Polyelectrolyte microcapsules as ionic liquid reservoirs within ionomer membrane to confer high anhydrous proton conductivity

“…2a revealed that both the PMCs and PMSs displayed two peaks at 1733 and 1160 cm À1 , which were attributed to the stretching vibration of C]O in EGDMA and COOeH in MAA, respectively. Such observations confirmed the successful synthesis of PMCs and PMSs [26,28]. In addition, it was found that the shape of the FTIR spectrum of PMSs was almost the same as that of PMCs, inferring their analogical chemical structures.…”

“…TEOS was added into the mixture of ethanol, water and aqueous solution of ammonium hydroxide under vigorous stirring at 30 C for 24 h. Excess MPS was then added into the above mixture for another 24 h to modify the silica with carbonecarbon double bonds. The coating of polyelectrolyte layer on MPS-silica microspheres was carried out by distillation-precipitation polymerization [26,27]. In a dried 100 mL flask that was attached to a fractionating column, Liebig condenser, and receiver, 0.30 g of MPS-silica particles were dispersed into 80 mL acetonitrile assisted by sonication.…”

Tunable Nanochannels along Graphene Oxide/Polymer Core–Shell Nanosheets to Enhance Proton Conductivity

“…For the permeability measurement using 2 m methanol ( Figure ), the PGO‐1 and PGO‐2 membranes display methanol permeability of 4.3 × 10 −7 and 2.3 × 10 −7 cm 2 s −1 , respectively, which are lower than that of Nafion 117 membrane (1.6 × 10 −6 cm 2 s −1 ). This is attributed to the fact that the in‐plane orientation of GO nanosheets (impermeable to methanol) extends the pathway for methanol diffusion, and that the crosslinked polymer networks are unfavorable for methanol diffusion . The PGO membranes also exhibit low methanol permeability (Figure ) under high methanol concentration (10 m ), indicating their potential for application in high concentration DMFC.…”

“…In this study, we first report a surface‐initiated precipitation polymerization method to synthesize multiple types of GO/polymer core–shell nanosheets, and then fabricate freestanding membranes via vacuum‐assisted filtration assembly of GO/poly(vinylphosphonic acid‐ co ‐ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate) core–shell nanosheets. Precipitation polymerization is selected due to its unique capability of rapidly attaching polymer networks having tunable crosslinking degree onto the surfaces of diverse kinds of materials . The GO‐based membranes were evaluated in terms of proton conductivity, water uptake, swelling, methanol permeability, and mechanical properties.…”

Novel sulfonated poly (ether ether ketone)/phosphonic acid-functionalized titania nanohybrid membrane by an in situ method for direct methanol fuel cells

“…Sulfonated poly (ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) was synthesized by direct sulfonation of PEEK [36]. PEEK was dried overnight at 80 C before sulfonation.…”