Anomalous behavior of proton transport and dimensional stability of sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) nonwoven/silicate composite proton exchange membrane with dual phase co-continuous morphology

作者：Won Ji Hye; Lee Hyeon Ji; Lim Jun Muk; Kim Jung Hwan; Hong Young Taik^*; Lee Sang Young

来源：Journal of Membrane Science, 2014, 450: 235-241.

DOI：10.1016/j.memsci.2013.09.019

• Composite proton exchange membranes
• Dual phase co-continuous morphology
• Sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone)
• Silicate
• Dimensional change

Herein, anomalous behavior of proton conductivity and dimensional stability of sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) (SPAES) nanofiber nonwoven fabric/silicate composite membrane (denoted as 'SN/S membrane') featuring dual phase co-continuous morphology, which could be potentially applied to proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), is systematically investigated. The SN/S membrane is fabricated via in situ sol-gel synthesis of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS)/3-glycidyloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GPTMS) mixture directly inside the electrospun SPAES nonwoven. In comparison to a typical SPAES (matrix)/silicate (domain) composite membrane, the SN/S membrane having structural uniqueness provides significant improvement in relative humidify (RH) variation driven dimensional change, although its proton conductivity is decreased due to the presence of ionically inert continuous silicate phase. A noteworthy finding of this study is that the phase morphology of composite proton exchange membranes plays a crucial role in determining the membrane properties such as proton conductivity and dimensional stability.

• 出版日期2014-1-15