LAUSR

Abstract Innovation of novel low cost proton conductive materials with super acidity has been the ever-increasing thirst for PEMFCs. Sulfonimide groups have the strongest gas-phase super-acidity with excellent thermal and chemical stability. Therefore, a series of partially fluorinated sulfonimide functionalized poly(arylene ether sulfone)s (SIPAES-xx) were successfully synthesized by chemical modification of sulfonated polyarylethersulfone (SPAES). The SPAESs were synthesized first by the direct polymerization of 4,4′ -dichlorodiphenylsulfone (DCDPS), 3,3′-disulfonate-4,4′-dichlorodiphenylsulfone (SDCDPS), and bisphenol. Thereafter, all arylsulfonic acid groups were converted into more acidic sulfonimide acid groups using partial fluorinated fluorosulfonyl imide monomer. The effect of the conversion of arylsulfonic acid function into sulfonimide was evaluated through thermal and chemical analysis. 1H-NMR, FTIR, TGA, FE SEM, and AFM were used to illustrate the structure, thermal and chemical properties of (SIPAES-xx) membranes. The membranes showed IEC values of 0.78–1.41 mequiv./g with 6.7–40.6% water uptake for 20–40% ionic groups. The synthesized SIPAES-40 membranes showed comparable proton conductivity to Nafion® 117 at same conditions. Nevertheless, the aromatic sulfonimide remained stable up to 370 °C. Furthermore, the presence of fluorine within the sulfonimide polymer provided high dimensional stability and oxidative durability by protecting the polymer chain from oxidizing radical species. Therefore, the synthesized SIPAES-xx membranes have the potential features as a proton exchange membrane (PEM) materials in the fuel cell.