Synthesis and characterization of an enhanced heterogeneous cation exchange membrane via nanoclay

Enhanced selectivity and performance of heterogeneous cation exchange membranes through addition of sulfonated and protonated Montmorillonite

“…As a result, cavities and pores disappeared in modified membranes and a denser structure shows up. Similar observations were found for PVC based ion exchange membranes with added clay nanoparticles [24,25]. Our results this demonstrate that this is a more generic effect, and it is likely that this effected can be replicated with many combinations of clay and polymer.…”

“…5a, a dramatic increase of water content results from adding nanoclay and functionalized nanoclay up to 0.5 wt.% in the casting solution. It is encouraging to compare this figure with that found by Namdari et al [24] and Hosseini et al [25] who found that membrane's hydrophilicity was enhanced up to 1 wt.% nanoclay but then decreased significantly. In our PES based IEMs the increase in water content remains over a much wider range of clay concetrations.…”

“…Several studies have been carried out using unmodified and sulfonated clay particles in direct methanol fuel cell membranes, such as Nafion, sPEEK, PVA, and PVDF membranes, leading to improvements in proton conductivity and reduced methanol permeability [19][20][21][22][23]. Some work, [24] and [25], has been dedicated to include nanoclay in heterogeneous cation-exchange membranes due to clay's suitable properties, such as easy availability, layered structure, hydrophilicity, low cost, and it's cation exchange capacity. Namdari et al [24] added montmorillonite K10 to PVC/HIPS/ABS blended heterogeneous cation exchange membranes.…”

“…Some work, [24] and [25], has been dedicated to include nanoclay in heterogeneous cation-exchange membranes due to clay's suitable properties, such as easy availability, layered structure, hydrophilicity, low cost, and it's cation exchange capacity. Namdari et al [24] added montmorillonite K10 to PVC/HIPS/ABS blended heterogeneous cation exchange membranes. Hosseini et al [25] focused on mixed matrix PVC based-co-clay nanoparticles heterogeneous cation exchange membranes and studied the effect of clay nanoparticles concentration on membrane electrochemical properties.…”

Studies on Glass Fiber-Reinforced Poly(Ethylene-Grafted-Styrene)-Based Cation Exchange Membrane Composite

“…Over recent decades, there has been renewed interest in developing high-performance ion exchange membranes, which play important roles in various industrial applications, such as fuel cell, desalination and wastewater treatment [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. Typically, ion exchange membranes are composed of inert polymers such as polyethylene, polyvinylidene fluoride and polyvinylchloride [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ], and reactive polymers such as polystyrene and polysulfone that can be functionalized by ionic groups [ 8 , 10 ]. The desired properties of ion exchange membranes are determined by the inert backbone polymers, reactive polymers and methods to combine them.…”