A facile strategy to construct layered membranes with high and stable proton conductivity based on sulfonated graphene oxide
Jin Jin
Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China
Search for more papers by this authorJing Jia
Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China
Search for more papers by this authorDi Song
Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China
Search for more papers by this authorNing Wang
Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China
Search for more papers by this authorKe Liu
Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China
Search for more papers by this authorTingting Zuo
Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Quantong Che
Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China
Correspondence
Quantong Che, Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorJin Jin
Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China
Search for more papers by this authorJing Jia
Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China
Search for more papers by this authorDi Song
Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China
Search for more papers by this authorNing Wang
Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China
Search for more papers by this authorKe Liu
Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China
Search for more papers by this authorTingting Zuo
Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Quantong Che
Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China
Correspondence
Quantong Che, Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorJin Jin and Jing Jia contributed equally to this work.
Funding information: Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, Grant/Award Number: N2005001; National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant/Award Number: 21703029
Summary
Spin coating as an easy-operation strategy to construct layered membranes has been widely mentioned in the fields of microelectronics, energy storage, and conversion, etc. In this research, the successful construction of proton exchange membranes (PEMs) bearing layered structure consisting of sulfonated graphene oxide (SGO) nanosheets and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with the spin coating method has been demonstrated by the identification of the multilayered dispersion of components and compact structure. The hydrophilic SGO nanosheets could increase the hydrophilicity of composite membranes since they bore a large number of polar oxygen functional groups. Phosphoric acid (PA) can be combined through the formed intermolecular hydrogen bonds between PA molecules and SGO nanosheets. The content of PA in PEMs can be adjusted by controlling the concentration of PA solutions, immersion temperature, and duration time. A comparative study with the membrane from the solution casting method has been performed, expecting to understand the influence of layered structure on membrane performance. It was found that the well-ordered distribution of SGO nanosheets facilitated proton conduction, demonstrating from the proton conductivity of 3.63 × 10−2 S/cm at 150°C. The fine proton conductivity stability, for instance, the result of 2.71 × 10−2 S/cm at 140°C lasting 1000-hour supported the component stability and mechanical strength. The research revealed that the spin coating technique could provide a facile and effective strategy to construct well-ordered membrane electrolytes for the application of high- temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells.
Supporting Information
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