Volume 136, Issue 15 47370
Article

Comb-shaped diblock copolystyrene for anion exchange membranes

Meng Zhu

Meng Zhu

Science and Technology on Thermostructural Composite Materials Laboratory, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China

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Xiaojuan Zhang

Xiaojuan Zhang

Science and Technology on Thermostructural Composite Materials Laboratory, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China

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Yanxia Su

Yanxia Su

Science and Technology on Thermostructural Composite Materials Laboratory, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China

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Yiguang Wang

Corresponding Author

Yiguang Wang

Science and Technology on Thermostructural Composite Materials Laboratory, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China

Correspondence to: Y. Wang (E-mail: [email protected]), M. Zhang (E-mail: [email protected]), and N. Li (E-mail: [email protected])Search for more papers by this author
Yibo Wu

Yibo Wu

College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Beijing 102617, China

Beijing Key Laboratory of Special Elastomeric Composite Materials, Beijing 102617, China

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Dan Yang

Dan Yang

College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Beijing 102617, China

Beijing Key Laboratory of Special Elastomeric Composite Materials, Beijing 102617, China

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Hao Wang

Hao Wang

College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Beijing 102617, China

Beijing Key Laboratory of Special Elastomeric Composite Materials, Beijing 102617, China

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Min Zhang

Min Zhang

College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Beijing 102617, China

Beijing Key Laboratory of Special Elastomeric Composite Materials, Beijing 102617, China

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Min Zhang

Corresponding Author

Min Zhang

College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Beijing 102617, China

Beijing Key Laboratory of Special Elastomeric Composite Materials, Beijing 102617, China

Correspondence to: Y. Wang (E-mail: [email protected]), M. Zhang (E-mail: [email protected]), and N. Li (E-mail: [email protected])Search for more papers by this author
Quan Chen

Quan Chen

State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, China

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Nanwen Li

Corresponding Author

Nanwen Li

State Key Laboratory of Coal Conversion, Institute of Coal Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Taiyuan 030001, China

Correspondence to: Y. Wang (E-mail: [email protected]), M. Zhang (E-mail: [email protected]), and N. Li (E-mail: [email protected])Search for more papers by this author
First published: 20 December 2018
Citations: 14

ABSTRACT

To improve the properties of diblock copolystyrene-based anion exchange membranes (AEMs), a series of AEMs with comb-shaped quaternary ammonium (QA) architecture (QA-PSm-b-PDVPPAn-xC where x denotes the number of carbon atoms in different alkyl tail chains and has values of 1, 4, 8, and 10 and C denotes carbon) were designed and synthesized via subsequent quaternization reactions with three different alkyl halogens (methyl iodide and N-alkane bromines (CH3[CH2] x-1Br where x = 4, 8, and 10). Compared with triblock analogues quaternized with methyl iodide in our previous research, QA-PSm-b-PDVPPAn-xC (x = 4, 8, and 10) AEMs are more flexible with the introduction of a long alkyl tail chain; this probably impedes crystallization of the rigid polystyrene-based main chain and induces sterically adjustable ionic association. An increase in the pendant alkyl tail chain length generally led to enhanced microphase separation of the obtained AEMs, and this was confirmed using small-angle X-ray scattering and atomic force microscopy. The highest conductivity (25.5 mS cm−1) was observed for QA-PS120-b-PDVPPA80-10C (IEC = 1.94 meq g–1) at 20 °C. Furthermore, the water uptake (<30%) and swelling ratio (<13.1%) of QA-PSm-b-PDVPPAn-xC AEMs are less than half of these corresponding values for their triblock counterparts. The QA-PS120-b-PDVPPA80-10C membrane retained a maximum stability that was as high as 86.8% of its initial conductivity after a 40-day test (10 M NaOH, 80 °C), and this was probably because of the steric shielding of the cationic domains that were surrounded by the longest alkyl tail chains. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019, 136, 47370.

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