Poly(arlyene ether sulfone) based semi-interpenetrating polymer network membranes containing cross-linked poly(vinyl phosphonic acid) chains for fuel cell applications at high temperature and low humidity conditions

Abstract Semi-interpenetrating polymer network (semi-IPN) membranes are prepared by in-situ casting and thermal-initiated radical polymerization of vinyl phosphonic acid (VPA) and bis(2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl) phosphate (BMAEP) in N , N -dimethylacetamide solutions of sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) (SPAES). The incorporation of VPA units into the SPAES membranes improves proton conductivity especially at high temperature and low humidity conditions. In addition the cross-linker, BMAEP, prevents the decrease of the mechanical and chemical stabilities by the aliphatic linear poly(vinyl phosphonic acid) chains in the semi-IPN membranes, and furthermore the phosphonic acid group in BMAEP can prevent the decrease of the proton conductivity by the formation of cross-linked structures. Therefore, the resulting semi-IPN membranes show high proton conductivities up to 15 mS cm −1 at 120 °C and 40% RH. The fuel cell performance (187 mW cm −2 at 120 °C and 40% RH) of membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) from the semi-IPN membrane is found to be superior to that (145 mW cm −2 at 120 °C and 40% RH) of MEA from the SPAES membrane. The durability test result at the operating conditions indicates that the semi-IPN membrane is electrochemically very stable maintaining the low hydrogen cross-over and high power densities.