Poly(ether ketone)s bearing pendent sulfonate groups via copolyacylation of a sulfonated monomer and isomeric AB‐type comonomers. Issue 2 (6th November 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhang, Zhenghui; Xu, Tongwen
• Is Part Of: Journal of polymer science. Volume 52:Issue 2(2014:Jan.)
• Page Start: 200
• Page End: 207
• Publication Date: 2013-11-06
• Subjects: AB‐type self‐condensable monomers -- ionomers -- membranes -- polyacylation -- poly(ether ketones); 547
• DOI: 10.1002/pola.26988
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0887-624X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Poly(ether ketone)s bearing pendent sulfonate groups (SPEK‐ x/y/z ) have been successfully synthesized via copolyacylation of a presulfonated monomer SBP and two isomeric AB‐type self‐condensable comonomers, that is, 4‐phenoxybenzoic acid ( p‐ POBA) and 3‐phenoxybenzoic acid ( m‐ POBA). Proton‐exchange membranes (PEMs) with precisely controlled ion‐exchange capacity (IEC) and high strength can be readily prepared from these ionomers. PEMs prepared from p‐ POBA other than m‐ POBA exhibit much higher dimensional stability and proton conductivity at elevated temperature above 60 °C, showing prominent isomeric ( para vs. meta ) effects of polymer structural units. Furthermore, properties of PEMs prepared from p‐ POBA are optimized by tuning IEC. SPEK‐1.0/2.2/0 with an IEC of 1.84 mmol g −1 exhibits acceptable swelling, much higher proton conductivity, and lower methanol permeability than commercial Nafion 115, implying potential application in direct methanol fuel cells. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2014, 52, 200–207 Abstract : Poly(ether ketone)s bearing pendent sulfonate groups (SPEK‐ x/y/z ) are prepared by copolymerizing two isomeric AB‐type self‐condensable comonomers (i.e., 4‐phenoxybenzoic acid ( p ‐POBA) and 3‐phenoxybenzoic acid ( m ‐POBA)) with a presulfonated monomer SBP. It is found that p ‐POBA is much better than m ‐POBA with respect to basic properties of corresponding proton exchange membranes. SPEK‐ x/y/z membranes, optimized by tuning the contents of sulfonate groups, show potential application in fuel cells.