Toward alkaline-stable anion exchange membranes in fuel cells: cycloaliphatic quaternary ammonium-based anion conductors

Aryl ether-free polymer electrolytes for electrochemical and energy devices

Anion exchange polymers (AEPs) play a crucial role in green hydrogen production through anion exchange membrane water electrolysis. The chemical stability of AEPs is paramount for stable system operation in electrolysers and other electrochemical devices. Given the instability of aryl ether-containing AEPs under high pH conditions, recent research has focused on quaternized aryl ether-free variants. The primary goal of this review is to provide a greater depth of knowledge on the synthesis of aryl ether-free AEPs targeted for electrochemical devices. Synthetic pathways that yield polyaromatic AEPs include acid-catalysed polyhydroxyalkylation, metal-promoted coupling reactions, ionene synthesis via nucleophilic substitution, alkylation of polybenzimidazole, and Diels-Alder polymerization. Polyolefinic AEPs are prepared through addition polymerization, ring-opening metathesis, radiation grafting reactions, and anionic polymerization. Discussions cover structure-property-performance relationships of AEPs in fuel cells, redox flow batteries, and water and CO2 electrolysers, along with the current status of scale-up synthesis and commercialization.

A New 2-Aminospiropyrazolylammonium Cation with Possible Uses in the Topical Areas of Ionic Liquids

Based on the fact that 2-aminospiropyrazolinium compounds and structurally related azoniaspiro compounds belong, in a broad sense, to the class of ionic liquids, we have reviewed them and studied their practical applications. To search for possible uses of a new 2-aminospiropyrazolinium compounds, it is necessary to undertake a comparison with the related class of azoniaspiro compounds based on available information. The structures of the well-studied class of azoniaspiro compounds and the related but little-studied class of 2-aminospiropyrazolinium have rigid frameworks, limited conformational freedom, and a salt nature. These properties give them the ability to organize the nearby molecular space and enable the structure-forming ability of azoniaspiro compounds in the synthesis of zeolites, as well as the ability to act as phase-transfer catalysts and have selective biological effects. Additionally, these characteristics enable their ability to act as electrolytes and serve as materials for anion exchange membranes in fuel cells and water electrolyzers. Thus, the well-studied properties of azoniaspiro compounds as phase-transfer catalysts, structure-directing agents, electrolytes, and materials for membranes in power sources would encourage the study of the similar properties of 2-aminospiropyrazolinium compounds, which we have studied in relation to in vitro antitubercular, antidiabetic, and antimicrobial activities.

Study on AEMs with Excellent Comprehensive Performance Prepared by Covalently Cross-Linked p-Triphenyl with SEBS Remotely Grafted Piperidine Cations

A series of SEBS-C6-PIP-yPTP (y = 0-15%) AEMs with good mechanical and chemical stability were prepared by combining the strong rigidity of p-triphenyl, good toughness of SEBS, and excellent stability of PIP cations. After the introduction of a p-triphenyl polymer into the main chain, a clear hydrophilic-hydrophobic phase separation structure was constructed within the membrane, forming a continuous and interconnected ion transport channel to improve ion transport efficiency. Moreover, the molecular chains of the cross-linked AEMs change from chain-like to network-like, and the tighter binding between each molecule increases the tensile strength. The special structure of the six-membered ring makes PIP have a significant constraint effect; when nucleophilic substitution and Hoffman elimination occur at the α and β positions, the required transition state potential energy increases, making the reaction difficult to occur and improving the alkaline stability of the polymer membrane. The SEBS-C6-PIP-15%PTP membrane has the best mechanical properties (Ts = 38.79 MPa, Eb = 183.09% at 80 °C, 100% RH), the highest ion conductivity (102.02 mS. cm-1 at 80 °C), and the best alkaline stability (6.23% degradation at 80 °C in a 2 M NaOH solution for 1400 h). It can be seen that organic-organic covalent cross-linking is an effective means to improve the comprehensive performance of AEMs.

"Fishbone" Design of Amino/N-Spirocyclic Cations toward High-Performance Poly(triphenylene piperidine) Anion-Exchange Membranes for Fuel Cells

N-Spirocyclic cations have excellent alkali resistance stability, and precise design of the structure of N-spirocyclic anion-exchange membranes (AEMs) improves their comprehensive performance. Here, we design and synthesize high-performance poly(triphenylene piperidine) membranes based on the "fishbone" design of amino/N-spirocyclic cations. The "fishbone" design does not disrupt the overall stabilized conformation but promotes a microphase separation structure, while exerting the synergistic effect of piperidine cations and spirocyclic cations, resulting in a membrane with good conductivity and alkali resistance stability. The hydroxide conductivity of the QPTPip-ASU-X membrane reached up to 133.5 mS cm-1 at 80 °C. The QPTPip-ASU-15 membrane was immersed in a 2 M NaOH solution at 80 °C for 1200 h, and the conductivity was maintained at 91.02%. In addition, the QPTPip-ASU-5 membrane had the highest peak power density of 255 mW cm-2.

Electrostatic Potential of Functional Cations as a Predictor of Hydroxide Diffusion Pathways in Nanoconfined Environments of Anion Exchange Membranes

Nanoconfined anion exchange membranes (AEMs) play a vital role in emerging electrochemical technologies. The ability to control dominant hydroxide diffusion pathways is an important goal in the design of nanoconfined AEMs. Such control can shorten hydroxide transport pathways between electrodes, reduce transport resistance, and enhance device performance. In this work, we propose an electrostatic potential (ESP) approach to explore the effect of the polymer electrolyte cation spacing on hydroxide diffusion pathways from a molecular perspective. By exploring cation ESP energy surfaces and validating outcomes through prior ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of nanoconfined AEMs, we find that we can achieve control over preferred hydroxide diffusion pathways by adjusting the cation spacing. The results presented in this work provide a unique and straightforward approach to predict preferential hydroxide diffusion pathways, enabling efficient design of highly conductive nanoconfined AEM materials for electrochemical technologies.

High-performance cation electrokinetic concentrator based on a γ-CD/QCS/PVA composite and microchip for evaluating the activity of P-glycoprotein without any interference from serum albumin

The development of cation electrokinetic concentrators (CECs) has been hindered by the lack of commercial anion-exchange membranes (AEMs). This paper introduces a γ-cyclodextrin-modified quaternized chitosan/polyvinyl alcohol (γ-CD/QCS/PVA) composite as an AEM, which is combined with a microchip to fabricate a CEC. Remarkably, the CEC only concentrates cationic species, thereby overcoming the interference of the highly abundant, negatively charged serum albumin in the blood sample. P-Glycoprotein (P-gp) is recognized as an efflux transporter protein that influences the pharmacokinetics (PK) of various compounds. The CEC was used to evaluate the activity of P-gp by detecting the positively charged rhodamine 123 (Rho123 is a classical substrate of P-gp) with no interference from serum albumin in the serum sample. Using the CEC, the enrichment factor (EF) of Rho123 exceeded 105-fold under DC voltage application. The minimal sample consumption of the CEC (<10 μL) enables reduction of animal sacrifice in animal experiments. Here, the CEC has been applied to evaluate the transport activity of P-gp in in vitro and in vivo experiments by detecting Rho123 in the presence of P-gp inhibitors or agonists. The results are in good agreement with those reported in previous reports. Therefore, the CEC presents a promising application potential, owing to its simple fabrication process, high sensitivity, minimal sample consumption, lack of interference from serum albumin and low cost.

Predicting the anion conductivities and alkaline stabilities of anion conducting membrane polymeric materials: development of explainable machine learning models

Anion exchange membranes (AEMs) are core components in fuel cells and water electrolyzers, which are crucial to realize a sustainable hydrogen society. The low anion conductivity and durability of AEMs have hindered the commercialization of AEM-based devices, and research and development (R&D) to improve AEM materials is often resource-intensive. Although machine learning (ML) is commonly used in many fields to accelerate R&D while reducing resource consumption, it is rarely used in the AEM field. Three problems hinder the adoption of ML models, namely, the low explainability of ML models; complication with expressing both homopolymers and copolymers in unity to train a single ML model; and difficulty in building a single ML model that comprehends various polymer types. This study presents the first ML models that solve all three problems. Our models predicted the anion conductivity for a diverse set of unseen AEM materials with high accuracy (root mean squared error = 0.014 S cm-1), regardless of their state (freshly synthesized or degraded). This enables virtual pre-synthesis screening of novel AEM materials, reducing resource consumption. Moreover, human-comprehensible prediction logic revealed new factors affecting the anion conductivity of AEM materials. Such capability to reveal new important variables for AEM materials design could shift the paradigm of AEM R&D. This proposed method is not limited to AEM materials, instead it presents a technology that is applicable to the diverse set of polymers currently available.

Anion Exchange Membranes Based on Chemical Modification of Recycled PET Bottles

This study presents an innovative and effective solution for recycling PET bottles as raw for producing anion exchange membranes (AEMs) for electrochemical applications. This approach reduces the demand for pristine materials, a key principle of the circular economy and sustainability. PET was subjected to chemical modification by introducing cationic functional groups followed by methylation and OH- exchange process. The amination synthesis was optimized based on reaction time. The results indicate that ion exchange capacity, water uptake, and swelling ratio properties mainly depend on the degree of cationic functionalization. The optimized AEM exhibits ionic conductivity of 5.3 × 10-2 S·cm-1 and alkaline stability of 432 h in 1 M KOH at 80 °C. The membrane properties before and after the alkaline treatment were investigated using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and scanning electron microscopy analysis. Computational chemistry analysis was employed to gain further insights into the membrane degradation mechanisms and pathways under alkaline conditions. This research and its findings are a step toward using recycled materials in the field of AEM technology.

Thin Film Composite Membranes as a New Category of Alkaline Water Electrolysis Membranes

Alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) is considered a promising technology for green hydrogen (H2 ) production. Conventional diaphragm-type porous membranes have a high risk of explosion owing to their high gas crossover, while nonporous anion exchange membranes lack mechanical and thermochemical stability, limiting their practical application. Herein, a thin film composite (TFC) membrane is proposed as a new category of AWE membranes. The TFC membrane consists of an ultrathin quaternary ammonium (QA) selective layer formed via Menshutkin reaction-based interfacial polymerization on a porous polyethylene (PE) support. The dense, alkaline-stable, and highly anion-conductive QA layer prevents gas crossover while promoting anion transport. The PE support reinforces the mechanical and thermochemical properties, while its highly porous and thin structure reduces mass transport resistance across the TFC membrane. Consequently, the TFC membrane exhibits unprecedentedly high AWE performance (1.16 A cm-2 at 1.8 V) using nonprecious group metal electrodes with a potassium hydroxide (25 wt%) aqueous solution at 80 °C, significantly outperforming commercial and other lab-made AWE membranes. Moreover, the TFC membrane demonstrates remarkably low gas crossover, long-term stability, and stack cell operability, thereby ensuring its commercial viability for green H2 production. This strategy provides an advanced material platform for energy and environmental applications.

Semi-Interpenetrating Network Anion Exchange Membranes by Thiol-Ene Coupling Reaction for Alkaline Fuel Cells and Water Electrolyzers

In this work, a thiol-ene coupling reaction was employed to prepare the semi-interpenetrating polymer network AEMs. The obtained QP-1/2 membrane exhibits high hydroxide conductivity (162.5 mS cm^-1 at 80 °C) with a relatively lower swelling ratio, demonstrating its mechanical strength of 42 MPa. This membrane is noteworthy for its improved alkaline stability, as the semi-interpenetrating network effectively limits the attack of hydroxide. Even after being treated in 2 M NaOH at 80 °C for 600 h, 82.5% of the hydroxide conductivity is maintained. The H₂/O₂ fuel cell with QP-1/2 membrane displays a peak power density of 521 mW cm^-2. Alkaline water electrolyzers based on QP-1/2 membrane demonstrated a current density of 1460 mA cm^-2 at a cell voltage of 2.00 V using NiCoFe catalysts in the anode. All the results demonstrate that a semi-interpenetrating structure is a promising way to enhance the mechanical property, ionic conductivity, and alkaline stability of AEMs for the application of alkaline fuel cells and water electrolyzers.

N-N(+) Bond-Forming Intramolecular Cyclization of O-Tosyloxy β-Aminopropioamidoximes and Ion Exchange Reaction for the Synthesis of 2-Aminospiropyrazolilammonium Chlorides and Hexafluorophosphates

Our research area is related to the spiropyrazolinium-containingcompounds, which are insufficiently studied compared with pyrazoline-containing compounds. Nitrogen-containing azoniaspiromolecules have also been well studied. In drug design and other areas, they are a priori important structures, since rigid spirocyclic scaffolds with the reduced conformational entropy are able to organize a closely spaced area. Azoniaspirostructures are currently of wide practical interest as ionic liquids, current sources (membranes), structure-directing agents in organocatalysis, and in the synthesis of ordered ceramics. Our goal was the synthesis of 2-aminospiropyrazolilammonium chlorides and hexafluorophosphates. Our methodology is based on the tosylation of β-aminopropioamidoximes with six-membered N-heterocycles (piperidine, morpholine, thiomorpholine, and phenylpiperazine) at the β-position. 2-Aminospiropyrazolilammonium chlorides and hexafluorophosphates were obtained by the reaction of double ion substitution in the reaction of toluenesulfonates of 2-aminospiropyrazolinium compounds with an ethereal solution of HCl in ethanol and with ammonium hexafluorophosphate in ethanol in quantitative yields of 55-97%. The physicochemical characteristics of the synthesized compounds and their IR and NMR spectra are presented. The obtained salts were additionally characterized by the single-crystal XRD analysis. The presence of both axial and equatorial conformations of spirocations in solids was confirmed. 2-Aminospiropyrazolilammonium chlorides and hexafluorophosphates have weak in vitro antimicrobial activity on Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial lines.

Tuning Alkaline Anion Exchange Membranes through Crosslinking: A Review of Synthetic Strategies and Property Relationships

Alkaline anion exchange membranes (AAEMs) are an enabling component for next-generation electrochemical devices, including alkaline fuel cells, water and CO2 electrolyzers, and flow batteries. While commercial systems, notably fuel cells, have traditionally relied on proton-exchange membranes, hydroxide-ion conducting AAEMs hold promise as a method to reduce cost-per-device by enabling the use of non-platinum group electrodes and cell components. AAEMs have undergone significant material development over the past two decades; however, challenges remain in the areas of durability, water management, high temperature performance, and selectivity. In this review, we survey crosslinking as a tool capable of tuning AAEM properties. While crosslinking implementations vary, they generally result in reduced water uptake and increased transport selectivity and alkaline stability. We survey synthetic methodologies for incorporating crosslinks during AAEM fabrication and highlight necessary precautions for each approach.

Novel Pyrrolidinium-Functionalized Styrene-b-ethylene-b-butylene-b-styrene Copolymer Based Anion Exchange Membrane with Flexible Spacers for Water Electrolysis

Anion exchange membranes (AEM) are core components for alkaline electrochemical energy technologies, such as water electrolysis and fuel cells. They are regarded as promising alternatives for proton exchange membranes (PEM) due to the possibility of using platinum group metal (PGM)-free electrocatalysts. However, their chemical stability and conductivity are still of great concern, which is appearing to be a major challenge for developing AEM-based energy systems. Herein, we highlight an AEM with styrene-b-ethylene-b-butylene-b-styrene copolymer (SEBS) as a backbone and pyrrolidinium or piperidinium functional groups tethered on flexible ethylene oxide spacer side-chains (SEBS-Py2O6). This membrane reached 27.8 mS cm^-1 hydroxide ion conductivity at room temperature, which is higher compared to previously obtained piperidinium-functionalized SEBS reaching up to 10.09 mS cm^-1. The SEBS-Py206 combined with PGM-free electrodes in an AWE water electrolysis (AEMWE) cell achieves 520 mA cm^-2 at 2 V in 0.1 M KOH and 171 mA cm^-2 in ultra-pure water (UPW). This high performance indicates that SEBS-Py2O6 membranes are suitable for application in water electrolysis.

Energy Storage with Highly-Efficient Electrolysis and Fuel Cells: Experimental Evaluation of Bifunctional Catalyst Structures

With the roll-out of renewable energies, highly-efficient storage systems are needed to be developed to enable sustainable use of these technologies. For short duration lithium-ion batteries provide the best performance, with storage efficiencies between 70 and 95%. Hydrogen based technologies can be developed as an attractive storage option for longer storage durations. But, common polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzers and fuel cells have round-trip system efficiencies of only 30–40%, and platinum and rare iridium catalysts are needed. Thus, it is a major challenge to increase the energy conversion efficiency of electrolyzers and fuel cells significantly, and at the same time to use non-precious catalysts. The present work experimentally examines the usefulness of a bifunctional NiC catalyst in two different assemblies: an alkaline fuel cell (AFC) with electrolyte gap and gas diffusion electrodes and an alkaline membrane electrolyzer (AEL). The performance characteristics of the novel system are compared with a reversible PEM fuel cell. While the AEL reaches acceptable power densities, the PEM based system still performs better than the proposed system. The AFC with an electrolyte gap provides remarkable results as it shows vanishingly small overvoltage during electrolysis at temperatures around 90 °C and current density of 100 mA cm−2: an electrolyzer efficiency of about 100% could be achieved for the single cell. The round-trip efficiency was also very high: 65% were realized with 50 mA cm−2. While the current density must be improved, this is a promising result for designing highly-efficient energy storage systems based on alkaline fuel cells.

Alkali-Stable Anion Exchange Membranes Based on Poly(xanthene)

Poly(xanthene)s (PXs) carrying trimethylammonium, methylpiperidinium, and quinuclidinium cations were synthesized and studied as a new class of anion exchange membranes (AEMs). The polymers were prepared in a superacid-mediated polyhydroxyalkylation involving 4,4'-biphenol and 1-bromo-3-(trifluoroacetylphenyl)-propane, followed by quaternization reactions with the corresponding amines. The architecture with a rigid PX backbone decorated with cations via flexible alkyl spacer chains resulted in AEMs with high ionic conductivity, thermal stability and alkali-resistance. For example, hydroxide conductivities up to 129 mS cm^-1 were reached at 80 °C, and all the AEMs showed excellent alkaline stability with less than 4% ionic loss after treatment in 2 M aq. NaOH at 90 °C during 720 h. Critically, the diaryl ether links of the PX backbone remained intact after the harsh alkaline treatment, as evidenced by both ¹H NMR spectroscopy and thermogravimetry. Our combined findings suggest that PX AEMs are viable materials for application in alkaline fuel cells and electrolyzers.

Water Uptake in an Anion Exchange Membrane Based on Polyamine: A First-Principles Study

An atomistic level study of a single monomer of polyamine interacting with water molecules and hydroxide anions (OH^-) was carried out to investigate the role of the polyamine structure in the hydrated morphology of anion exchange membranes (AEMs) for alkaline fuel cells and its influence on ionic conductivity and chemical stability. DFT calculations were performed to find the ground state of the system, studying the interactions of the solvent species with three different regions of the polymer─the amine functional group, the backbone, and the carbonyl group. The hydrophilic/hydrophobic behavior of each segment was determined, with calculated binding energies and Bader charge analysis providing a more quantitative analysis of the interactions and activation and reaction energies computed to investigate the chemical degradation mechanism. The results show the tendency of both OH^- and water molecules to form water clusters in the proximity of the ionized amine group. As such, these regions constitute the preferential pathway for ionic conductivity. Besides, the essential role of the water content is pointed out, not only to enhance conductivity but also to reduce degradation in an alkaline environment. The present work provides a baseline to assess the impact of polymer chemistry on the ionic conductivity of the membrane and acts as the first step for the development of high-performance AEMs and for an improvement of the overall performance of the fuel cell.

Strong and Flexible High-Performance Anion Exchange Membranes with Long-Distance Interconnected Ion Transport Channels for Alkaline Fuel Cells

Anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs), which operate on a variety of green fuels, can achieve high power without emitting greenhouse gases. However, the lack of high ionic conductivity and long-term durability of anion-exchange membranes (AEMs) as their key components is a major obstacle hindering the commercial application of AEMFCs. Here, a series of homogeneous semi-interpenetrating network (semi-IPN) AEMs formed by cross-linking a copolymer of styrene (St) and 4-vinylbenzyl chloride (VBC) with branched polyethylenimine (BPEI) were designed. The pure carbon copolymer skeleton without sulfone/ether bonds accompanied by the semi-IPN endows the AEMs with excellent chemical stability. Moreover, the cross-linking effect of flexible BPEI chains is supposed to promote the "strong-flexible" mechanical properties, while the presence of multiquaternary ammonium groups can boost the formation of microphase separation, thereby enhancing the ionic conductivity of these AEMs. Consequently, the optimized (S₁V₁)₃Q AEM exhibits an excellent hydroxide conductivity of 106 mS cm^-1 at 80 °C, as well as more than 81% residual conductivity after soaking in 1 M NaOH at 60 °C for 720 h. Furthermore, the H₂/O₂ fuel cell assembled with (S₁V₁)₃Q AEM delivers a peak power density of 150.2 mW cm^-2 at 60 °C and 40% relative humidity. All results indicate that the approach of combining a pure carbon backbone polymer with a semi-IPN structure may be a viable strategy for fabricating AEMs that can be used in AEMFCs for long-term applications.

What is Next in Anion-Exchange Membrane Water Electrolyzers? Bottlenecks, Benefits, and Future

As highlighted by the recent roadmaps from the European Union and the United States, water electrolysis is the most valuable high-intensity technology for producing green hydrogen. Currently, two commercial low-temperature water electrolyzer technologies exist: alkaline water electrolyzer (A-WE) and proton-exchange membrane water electrolyzer (PEM-WE). However, both have major drawbacks. A-WE shows low productivity and efficiency, while PEM-WE uses a significant amount of critical raw materials. Lately, the use of anion-exchange membrane water electrolyzers (AEM-WE) has been proposed to overcome the limitations of the current commercial systems. AEM-WE could become the cornerstone to achieve an intense, safe, and resilient green hydrogen production to fulfill the hydrogen targets to achieve the 2050 decarbonization goals. Here, the status of AEM-WE development is discussed, with a focus on the most critical aspects for research and highlighting the potential routes for overcoming the remaining issues. The Review closes with the future perspective on the AEM-WE research indicating the targets to be achieved.

New block poly(ether sulfone) based anion exchange membranes with rigid side-chains and high-density quaternary ammonium groups for fuel cell application

We report a series of novel poly(ether sulfone) based anion exchange membranes (AEMs) with relatively good stability due to their rigid side-chains and heterocyclic quaternary ammonium groups. The AEMs show appropriate performance in AEM fuel cells.

3D-Zipped Interface: In Situ Covalent-Locking for High Performance of Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells can generate high power using a potentially green fuel (H₂ ) and zero emissions of greenhouse gas (CO₂ ). However, significant mass transport resistances in the interface region of the membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs), between the membrane and the catalyst layers remains a barrier to achieving MEAs with high power densities and long-term stabilities. Here, a 3D-interfacial zipping concept is presented to overcome this challenge. Vinylbenzyl-terminated bi-cationic quaternary-ammonium-based polyelectrolyte is employed as both the anionomer in the anion-exchange membrane (AEM) and catalyst layers. A quaternary-ammonium-containing covalently locked interface is formed by thermally induced inter-crosslinking of the terminal vinyl groups. Ex situ evaluation of interfacial bonding strength and in situ durability tests demonstrate that this 3D-zipped interface strategy prevents interfacial delamination without any sacrifice of fuel cell performance. A H₂ /O₂ AEMFC test demonstration shows promisingly high power densities (1.5 W cm^-2 at 70 °C with 100% RH and 0.2 MPa backpressure gas feeds), which can retain performances for at least 120 h at a usefully high current density of 0.6 A cm^-2 .