Issue 5, 2010

Grafting poly(phenylene oxide) with poly(vinylphosphonic acid) for fuelcell membranes

Abstract

Densely phosphonated electrolyte membranes were prepared from poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene oxide) (PPO) grafted with poly(vinylphosphonic acid) (PVPA) side chains. In the first step, PPO was lithiated in solution at room temperature by adding n-butyllithium to form an anionic macroinitiatior. Next, diethyl vinylphosphonate was anionically polymerized from the lithiated sites at −78 °C. This protocol gave good control over the density of the grafting sites and the copolymer composition. Films of copolymers containing between 35 and 74 wt% poly(diethyl vinylphosphonate) were first cast from solution and subsequently fully hydrolyzed to produce transparent flexible proton conducting membranes of PPO-graft-PVPA containing up to 6 mmol phosphonic acid groups per gram of dry copolymer. Thermogravimetric analysis showed anhydride formation at increasing temperatures above 100 °C with no copolymer degradation occurring until nearly 400 °C under air. Fully hydrated membranes reached proton conductivities above 1 mS cm−1 at −20 °C and 80 mS cm−1 at 120 °C.

Graphical abstract: Grafting poly(phenylene oxide) with poly(vinylphosphonic acid) for fuel cell membranes

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
29 Dec 2009
Accepted
23 Feb 2010
First published
12 Mar 2010

Polym. Chem., 2010,1, 739-746

Grafting poly(phenylene oxide) with poly(vinylphosphonic acid) for fuel cell membranes

M. Ingratta, M. Elomaa and P. Jannasch, Polym. Chem., 2010, 1, 739 DOI: 10.1039/B9PY00390H

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