Synergistic Effect of 2-Acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic Acid on the Enhanced Conductivity for Fuel Cell at Low Temperature

Abstract

This present work focused on the aromatic polymer (poly (1,4-phenylene ether-ether-sulfone); SPEES) interconnected/ cross-linked with the aliphatic monomer (2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic; AMPS) with the sulfonic group to enhance the conductivity and make it flexible with aliphatic chain of AMPS. Surprisingly, it produced higher conductivity than that of other reported work after the chemical stability was measured. It allows optimizing the synthesis of polymer electrolyte membranes with tailor-made combinations of conductivity and stability. Membrane structure is characterized by 1H NMR and FT-IR. Weight loss of the membrane in Fenton’s reagent is not too high during the oxidative stability test. The thermal stability of the membrane is characterized by TGA and its morphology by SEM and SAXS. The prepared membranes improved proton conductivity up to 0.125 Scm−1 which is much higher than that of Nafion N115 which is 0.059 Scm−1. Therefore, the SPEES-AM membranes are adequate for fuel cell at 50 °C with reduced relative humidity (RH).