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Firganek D, Donten ML, Van der Bruggen B. Impact of Formulation of Photocurable Precursor Mixtures on the Performance and Dimensional Stability of Hierarchical Cation Exchange Membranes. Ind Eng Chem Res 2023; 62:15928-15939. [PMID: 37810993 PMCID: PMC10557092 DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.3c02174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2023] [Revised: 09/07/2023] [Accepted: 09/12/2023] [Indexed: 10/10/2023]
Abstract
This work presents a systematic approach to formulating UV curable ionomer coatings that can be used as ion-exchange membranes when they are applied on porous substrates. Ion-exchange membranes fabricated in this way can be a cost-effective alternative to perfluorosulfonic acid membranes, such as Nafion and similar thin ionomer film membranes. Hierarchically structured coated membranes find applications for energy storage and conversion (organic redox flow batteries and artificial photosynthesis cells) and separation processes (electrodialysis). Designing the ionomer precursor for membrane formulation requires the introduction of compounds with drastically different properties into a liquid mixture. Hansen solubility theory was used to find the solvents to compatibilize main formulation components: acrylic sulfone salt (3-sulfopropyl methacrylate potassium salt) and hexafunctional polyester acrylate cross-linker (Ebecryl 830), otherwise nonmiscible or mutely soluble. Among the identified suitable solvents, acrylic acid and acetic acid allowed for optimal mixing of the components and reaching the highest levels of sulfonic group content, providing the desired ion-exchange capacity. Interestingly, they represented a case of a reactive and nonreactive solvent since acrylic acid was built into the ionomer during the UV curing step. Properties of the two membrane variants were compared. Samples fabricated with acetic acid exhibit improved handleability compared with the case of acrylic acid. Acetic acid yielded a lower area-specific resistance (6.4 ± 0.17 Ohm·cm2) compared to acrylic acid (12.1 ± 0.16 Ohm·cm2 in 0.5 M NaCl). This was achieved without severely suppressing the selectivity of the membrane, which was standing at 93.4 and 96.4% for preparation with acetic and acrylic acid, respectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Firganek
- Amer-Sil
S.A., 61 Rue d’Olm, L-8281Kehlen, Luxembourg
- Department
of Chemical Engineering, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200F, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium
| | | | - Bart Van der Bruggen
- Department
of Chemical Engineering, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200F, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium
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Ionic liquid-based pore-filling anion-exchange membranes enable fast large-sized metallic anion migration in electrodialysis. J Memb Sci 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.memsci.2023.121348] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
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Fuel cell performance improvement via the steric effect of a hydrocarbon-based binder for cathode in proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Sci Rep 2022; 12:14001. [PMID: 35978021 PMCID: PMC9386007 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-18464-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2022] [Accepted: 08/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
In this study, a sulfonated poly(ether sulfone) having cardo-type fluorenyl groups (FL-SPES) was investigated as a cathodic binder to improve fuel cell performance via increased the oxygen diffusion in the cathode. The maximum power density achieved by using the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) prepared with FL-SPES with a low ion exchange capacity (IEC) of 1.31 meq g-1 was 520 mW cm-2, which is more than twice as high as that of BP-SPES (210 mW cm-2) having typical biphenyl groups with a similar IEC. At high IEC of 1.55 meq g-1, the power density obtained by using BP-SPES was improved to 454 mW cm-2 but remained lower than that of FL-SPES. In addition, although the IEC, swelling degree, and specific resistance were similar to each other, the gas permeability of FL-SPES was improved by approximately three times compared to that of BP-SPES. The steric structure of cardo-type FL-SPES increased the free volume between the polymer backbones, leading to an increase in gas transfer. Consequently, oxygen diffusion was promoted at the cathode, resulting in improved fuel cell performance.
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Zhao Z, Li X, Zhang H, Sheng F, Xu T, Zhu Y, Zhang H, Ge L, Xu T. Polyamide-Based Electronanofiltration Membranes for Efficient Anion Separation. Ind Eng Chem Res 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.2c01418] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Zhang Zhao
- Anhui Provincial Engineering Laboratory of Functional Membrane Materials and Technology, Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People’s Republic of China
| | - Xingya Li
- Anhui Provincial Engineering Laboratory of Functional Membrane Materials and Technology, Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People’s Republic of China
| | - Hao Zhang
- Anhui Provincial Engineering Laboratory of Functional Membrane Materials and Technology, Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People’s Republic of China
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia
| | - Fangmeng Sheng
- Anhui Provincial Engineering Laboratory of Functional Membrane Materials and Technology, Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People’s Republic of China
| | - Tingting Xu
- Anhui Provincial Engineering Laboratory of Functional Membrane Materials and Technology, Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People’s Republic of China
| | - Yanran Zhu
- Anhui Provincial Engineering Laboratory of Functional Membrane Materials and Technology, Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People’s Republic of China
| | - Huacheng Zhang
- Chemical and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia
| | - Liang Ge
- Anhui Provincial Engineering Laboratory of Functional Membrane Materials and Technology, Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People’s Republic of China
- Applied Engineering Technology Research Center for Functional Membranes, Institute of Advanced Technology, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230088, People’s Republic of China
| | - Tongwen Xu
- Anhui Provincial Engineering Laboratory of Functional Membrane Materials and Technology, Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People’s Republic of China
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