(558bl) PIM Incorporated High Performance Blend Anion Exchange Membranes for Fuel Cell Application

PIM incorporated high performance blend anion exchange membranes for fuel cell application

Shoutao Gong, Lv Li, Panyue Li, Yabin Jia, Ruiting Zhou and Fengxiang Zhang* 

School of Petroleum and Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology

2 Dagong Road, Liaodongwan New District, Panjin, China, 124221

Alkaline electrolyte membrane fuel cell (AEMFC) has attracted tremendous attention in the past decades, but its development toward practical application is still hindered by the insufficient conductivity of alkaline electrolyte membrane (AEM) at a reasonably low ion exchange capacity (IEC). To address this issue, we herein report a novel blend AEM structure that incorporates polymer of intrinsic microporosity (PIM). PIM features highly rigid backbone and loose packing so that the resultant blend AEM containing PIM possesses enlarged free volume, which may reduce the resistance of hydroxide ion transport, and meanwhile facilitate micrphase separation because of easier chain section motion. The blend AEM containing 30% PIM shows a low ion exchange capacity of 0.77 mmol g^-1, but a relatively high conductivity of 16.9 mS cm^-1 at 30 °C; the H₂/O₂ fuel cell assembled with this membrane yields a power density of 163 mW cm^-2 at 60 °C. The membrane also shows a high mechanical robustness (tensile strength being 43 MPa) and alkaline stability as compared with that without PIM incorporation. Our work provides a new and effective strategy to promote hydroxide ion conduction in AEMs at low IEC, which may pave the way to achieving better balanced conductivity and stability.