Journal article
meta-PBI/methylated PBI-OO blend membranes for acid doped HT PEMFC
Korea Institute of Science and Technology1
Korea University of Science and Technology2
Korea University3
Danish Power Systems ApS4
Department of Energy Conversion and Storage, Technical University of Denmark5
Proton conductors, Department of Energy Conversion and Storage, Technical University of Denmark6
Methylation of polybenzimidazole leads to positively charged polymer backbones, and moveable anions. Ion exchange of methylated PBI-OO in phosphoric acid (PA) shows that the resulting polymers dissolve. meta-PBI, however, absorbs about 400wt% PA while remaining a self supported membrane. We investigate the properties of blend membranes, employing meta-PBI for mechanical integrity and methylated PBI-OO for high PA uptake and resulting proton conductivity.
While small additions of PBI-OO decrease the tensile strength of blend membranes (58MPa for 10% PBI-OO), further addition leads to an increase, and 50% blend membranes show again a tensile strength of 74MPa, just 3MPa lower than pure meta-PBI membranes. Thermal stability of iodide exchanged blend membranes appears to be remarkably high, probably because cleaved iodomethane does not evaporate but methylates meta-PBI.
PA concentration in doped membranes of 60–63% is reached by doping in 60% PA (blend; 6.3PA/repeat unit) and 70% PA (meta-PBI; 4.6PA/r.u.). This suggests that blends absorb PA more strongly. Both membranes show similar conductivity between rt and 140°C, indicating that PA concentration describes these membranes better than PA/r.u.
In the fuel cell, blend membranes show similar or better performance than meta-PBI. In the TGA, blends doped in 20% PA showed a stable plateau between 115 and 180°C, while meta-PBI lost weight continuously.
Language: | English |
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Year: | 2014 |
Pages: | 135-143 |
ISSN: | 18731945 and 00143057 |
Types: | Journal article |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2014.06.019 |
ORCIDs: | Li, Qingfeng , Jensen, Jens Oluf , Cleemann, Lars Nilausen and 0000-0003-2330-953X |