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Strengthen the performance of sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) as proton exchange membranes with phosphonic acid functionalized carbon nanotubes

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Abstract

Nanocomposite polymers based on phosphonic acid functionalized carbon nanotubes (CNT-POH) and sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) have been fabricated and employed as highly efficient proton exchange membranes. CNT-POH were synthesized through the grafting of carbon nanotubes (CNT) with diethylphosphatoethyl triethoxysilane and subsequent acidification of phosphate to phosphonic acid ligands. Incorporating CNT-POH into SPEEK matrix improves the proton conductivity at different temperatures and relative humidity, which can be attributed to the homogeneous dispersion of highly hydrophilic phosphonic acid groups and the formation of proton transport channels in the membrane. The methanol permeability of the composite membranes is also decreased, owing to the increased tortuosity of the methanol transport channel. The CNT in SPEEK matrix also enhance the dimensional stability and mechanical property remarkably. Consequently, this phosphonic acid functionalized CNT/SPEEK composite membrane (SPEEK-POH) is a potential candidate for application in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC).

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the financial support from the Science and Technology Program of Tianjin (15ZCZDSF00040, 16JCQNIC06000) and the Program of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities (B06006).

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Correspondence to Wen Zhang.

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Zhang, W., Zheng, H., Zhang, C. et al. Strengthen the performance of sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) as proton exchange membranes with phosphonic acid functionalized carbon nanotubes. Ionics 23, 2103–2112 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-017-2030-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-017-2030-0

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