Proton dynamics in sulfonated ionic salt composites: Alternative membrane materials for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Recent progress and perspectives in microbial fuel cells for bioenergy generation and wastewater treatment

“…The use of membranes based on ionic liquids (ILs) could open up new possibilities in the MFC field [6]. ILs are organic salts that remain liquid at room temperature.…”

Fabrication and characterization of phosphoric acid doped imidazolium ionic liquid polymer composite membranes

“…Synthesis and purification of BMIMPF 6 and BMIMH 2 PO 4 N-methylimidazole, 1-chlorobutane and ethyl acetate as starting materials to synthesize the intermediate of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BMIMCl) were purchased from Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Co., Ltd., China. All chemicals were used as received without further purification.…”

“…Tetramethyl silicane (TMS) for 1 [37], but pure PA was adopted instead of 85% PA in the literature (the processes were shown in supporting information). The prepared viscous ionic liquids of BMIMPF 6 and BMIMH 2 PO 4 were stored in sealed containers in order to prevent the moisture.…”

“…For example, the mass swelling and volume variation were 43.1% and − 0.8%, respectively, when PVDF/60%BMIMPF 6 membrane was immersed into PA for 48 h in equilibrium. Due to the lack of strong interaction between BMIMPF 6 and PVDF polymeric chains, BMIMPF 6 could partially leak from the membranes while immersing into PA. The absorbed PA molecules occupied the vacancy once belonged to BMIMPF 6 in polymeric skeleton, which caused the volume decreasing even the mass increasing.…”

“…Owing to the high power density, high efficiency, fast start-up and low emission, proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) as a favorable candidate have attracted a wide attention in the field of clean energy sources [5]. Although PEMFCs have made a great progress, some key problems including high price in economy and low operation temperature in technology hindered their practical application [6]. At present, developing PEMFCs that can work at elevated-high temperature, close to or above 100°C, was believed as an effective strategy to solve these difficult situations.…”