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Chemical stability of polyelectrolyte sulfonated membranes (St-BuA) in acid media: simultaneous electrochemical and spectroscopic characterization by in-situ FTIR

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Abstract

Polyelectrolytic membranes, such as the well-known commercial grade Nafion™, suffer mechanical failure and chemical decomposition after many hours of operation into a fuel cell. Mechanically due to expansion–contraction phenomena during water management and chemically due to the hydrogen peroxide and radicals produced from the H2/O2 redox electrochemical reactions. Considering that such behavior exists for the most used and reliable Nafion™ membranes, it is also expected similar properties depletion for alternative membrane copolymers. In this work, we examined the performance of sulfonated Styrene/butyl acrylate (S-St-BuA) copolymers during proton exchange activity through redox electrochemical reactions and their interactions with Fenton’s reagent (H2O2/FeCl2), compared with Nafion™. In situ, FTIR is a simultaneous analysis that evaluates the spectroscopic characteristics while the proton exchange into membranes is also measured. The in situ FTIR analysis showed chemical stability in the structure of the alternative membranes of S-St/BuA, compared with Nafion™ when both were exposed to Fenton's reagent.

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Acknowledgments

To CONACyT-México for the Project FC3004 and Post-Doctoral Grant for AASC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Investigación en Química Aplicada (CIQA), Blvd. Enrique Reyna No. 140, C.P. 25294, Saltillo, Coahuila, México

    A. A. Siller-Ceniceros, R. Benavides, L. Francisco-Vieira, D. Morales-Acosta & L. DaSilva

  2. Laboratorio Nacional de Materiales Grafénicos (LNMG), Centro de Investigación en Química Aplicada, Blvd. Enrique Reyna No. 140, C.P. 25294, Saltillo, Coahuila, México

    E. Cuara-Díaz

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  1. A. A. Siller-Ceniceros
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  2. R. Benavides
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  3. L. Francisco-Vieira
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  4. D. Morales-Acosta
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  5. L. DaSilva
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  6. E. Cuara-Díaz
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Correspondence to R. Benavides.

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Siller-Ceniceros, A.A., Benavides, R., Francisco-Vieira, L. et al. Chemical stability of polyelectrolyte sulfonated membranes (St-BuA) in acid media: simultaneous electrochemical and spectroscopic characterization by in-situ FTIR. Polym. Bull. 80, 1399–1410 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-022-04117-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-022-04117-1

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