An Imidazolium Type Ionic Liquid Functionalized Ether-Free Poly(terphenyl piperidinium) Membrane for High Temperature Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Applications. Issue 2 (1st February 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jin, Yaping; Che, Xuefu; Xu, Yixin; Dong, Jianhao; Pan, Chao; Aili, David; Li, Qingfeng; Yang, Jingshuai
• Is Part Of: Journal of the Electrochemical Society. Volume 169:Issue 2(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-02-01
• Subjects: Electrochemistry -- Periodicals; 541.3705
• DOI: 10.1149/1945-7111/ac4d6d
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0013-4651

Abstract

Abstract : Development of high temperature polymer electrolyte membranes is essential for advanced energy conversion and storage technologies. Herein, an imidazolium type ionic liquid (BPMIm) with a long side-chain of 5-bromopentyl is synthesized and employed as the quaternization reagent for ether-free poly( p -terphenyl- co - N -methyl-piperidine) (PTP). Grafting the flexible long side-chain imidazolium group into the ether-free polymer backbone not only improves the polymer solubility in organic solvents but also provides acid-base interaction sites for the following phosphoric acid doping that supports proton conductivity at above 100 °C. Compared with pure and iodomethane quaternized PTP membranes (i.e. PTP and PTP-Me), the prepared imidazolium ionic liquid grafted PTP membrane (i.e. PTP-PMIm) exhibits an enhanced phosphoric acid uptake and hence a superior anhydrous proton conductivity of 138 mS cm −1 at 180 °C. The technical feasibility of the PTP-PMIm membrane is demonstrated in H2 -air fuel cells at temperatures from 160 °C–200 °C, which reaches a high peak power density of around 456 mW cm −2 at 200 °C at ambient pressure.