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Manipulating the ionic nanophase of Nafion by in-situ precise hybridization with polymer quantum dot towards highly enhanced fuel cell performances

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Abstract

Hierarchical-structure materials hold great promise for numerous applied domains such as fuel cell, sensor, and optic. However, the developments are significantly impeded by the lack of efficient strategy permitting precise and efficient decoration of specific confined space. Here, an in-situ precise hybridization strategy is proposed to efficiently manipulate the nanostructure of membrane nanochannels. Typically, Nafion ionic nanochannels are impregnated with precursors via heat swelling, followed by microwave-assisted condensation to form polymer quantum dot network. The formation of polymer quantum dot network significantly improves the stability and functionality of ionic nanophase (i.e., ionic nanochannel). This helps hybrid membrane achieving enhanced proton conduction and methanol barrier properties, resulting in over ten times increase in proton/methanol selectivity. These then impart prominent device performances for both hydrogen and methanol fuel cells with the elevation of ∼ 100%. Importantly, such function manipulation of ionic nanochannels is achieved with fully maintaining function of backbone nanophase. Besides, the regulation of physical topology and chemical environment of ionic nanochannel also brings optimization of gas and ion separation properties. This facile and versatile strategy may open up a new avenue for decorating confined space of many hierarchical-structure materials.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. U2004199), the Excellent Youth Foundation of Henan Province (No. 202300410373), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Nos. 2021T140615 and 2020M672281), the Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province (No. 212300410285), and the Young Talent Support Project of Henan Province (No. 2021HYTP028). The center for advanced analysis and computational science, Zhengzhou University is also highly acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China

    Wenjia Wu, Zhuofan Zhou, Yan Wang, Yatao Zhang & Jingtao Wang

  2. Henan Institute of Advanced Technology, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450003, China

    Jingtao Wang

  3. State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 211816, China

    Yong Wang

  4. State Key Laboratory of Fluorinated Functional Membrane Materials, Shandong DongYue Polymer Material Co., Ltd., Zibo, 256400, China

    Yecheng Zou

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  1. Wenjia Wu
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  2. Zhuofan Zhou
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  3. Yan Wang
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Correspondence to Jingtao Wang.

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Manipulating the ionic nanophase of Nafion by in-situ precise hybridization with polymer quantum dot towards highly enhanced fuel cell performances

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Wu, W., Zhou, Z., Wang, Y. et al. Manipulating the ionic nanophase of Nafion by in-situ precise hybridization with polymer quantum dot towards highly enhanced fuel cell performances. Nano Res. 15, 4124–4131 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4073-4

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