Emerging membrane materials for high temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cells: durable hydrocarbon ionomers

Abstract

Proton conducting membranes are key materials in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs). Perfluorinated ionomers have been state-of-the-art for decades, but challenges remain for the high temperature operation of fuel cells. We present herein our approaches toward durable and high temperature-operable ionomer membranes using non-fluorinated aromatic polyimide copolymers combined with aliphatic building blocks.