Preparation and characterization of electrospun sulfonated polysulfone/ZrO2 composite nanofiber membranes

Abstract

Abstract In this study, polysulfone (PSF) polymer, which is primarily intended to be used as a proton exchange membrane (PEM) was selected and sulfonated to increase proton conductivity. In order to improve the water uptake (WU) and ion exchange capacity (IEC) of the produced membranes, zirconium oxide (ZrO2) inorganic additive was added at different ratios and composite nanofiber membranes were produced by electrospinning. The electrospinning parameters were optimized to obtain the sulfonated polysulfone (sPSF)–ZrO2 nanofiber composite membranes and the optimum conditions were determined as 70 % polymer concentration, 26 kV voltage, 0.25 mL h−1 feed rate, and 15 cm needle–collector distance. Structural characterizations of the produced nanofiber composite membranes were carried out and their swelling behavior was investigated. When the results were examined, it was observed that the IEC values decreased with the increase in the amount of ZrO2 and it was thought that the inorganic additive would affect the continuity of the sulfone groups by blocking the pores. Similarly, according to the swelling behavior results, there was a decrease in the WU capacity and swelling ratio (SR) due to the blocking effect of ZrO2 in nanofiber composite membranes with an additive ratio of more than 5 %. Compared with the literature, the results showed that sPSF–ZrO2 nanofiber composite membranes show potential for applications as PEMs.