Abstract The comb-shaped benzyl piperidinium cations functionalized aryl-ether bonds-free poly(biphenyl-alkylene)s (PB-g-PipVBC) were synthesized by super-acid catalyzed Friedel-Crafts polycondensation and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). To further construct ion transport channels… Click to show full abstract
Abstract The comb-shaped benzyl piperidinium cations functionalized aryl-ether bonds-free poly(biphenyl-alkylene)s (PB-g-PipVBC) were synthesized by super-acid catalyzed Friedel-Crafts polycondensation and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). To further construct ion transport channels and improve ion conductivity, the composite membranes were fabricated via doping the pre-designed ionic porous polymeric nanospheres. The resulting composite membrane loaded with 1 wt% nanospheres showed high chloride conductivity of 65.6 mS cm-1 at 80 °C, benefiting from the ordered ion conductive channel and ionic nanoaggregates. Meanwhile, the composite membranes doped with nanospheres all exhibited acceptable alkaline stability and maintained above 40% of the original ion conductivity after soaking in 1 M NaOH at 80 °C for 1000 h, and the oxidative durable remaining mass retained above 75% for 1 h in 80 °C Fenton's reagent. Among them, the composite membrane loaded with 3 wt% nanospheres possessed the highest alkaline stability (66.3% of the original hydroxide conductivity after storage in 1 M NaOH for 1000 h), which was ascribed to morphology and the absence of alkaline labile aryl-bonds in polymer backbone. Moreover, it exhibited a peak power density of 77.3 mW cm-2 at 143.4 mA cm-2 in a direct borohydride fuel cell, which was higher than that of Nafion®211 (67.4 mW cm-2 at 134.8 mA cm-2). Therefore, the poly(biphenyl-alkylene)s and ionic polymeric nanospheres grafting with benzyl piperidinium cations by ATRP have great potential for designing anion exchange membranes in diverse applications.
               
Click one of the above tabs to view related content.