Tailoring highly stable anion exchange membranes with graft molecular structure ordering using reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization for alkaline fuel cells

SANTOS, BIANCA P.S.BARBOSA, ANDREY S.KODAMA, YASKOTHIAGO, QUEIROZ B. deSANTIAGO, ELISABETE I.2023-12-072023-12-072023SANTOS, BIANCA P.S.; BARBOSA, ANDREY S.; KODAMA, YASKO; THIAGO, QUEIROZ B. de; SANTIAGO, ELISABETE I. Tailoring highly stable anion exchange membranes with graft molecular structure ordering using reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization for alkaline fuel cells. <b>Journal of Membrane Science</b>, v. 687, p. 1-12, 2023. DOI: <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2023.122071">10.1016/j.memsci.2023.122071</a>. Disponível em: http://repositorio.ipen.br/handle/123456789/34255.0376-7388http://repositorio.ipen.br/handle/123456789/34255The radiation-induced grafting is used to prepare a variety of anion-exchange membranes (AEM) based on poly (ethylene-co-tetrafluoroethylene) (ETFE) utilizing a reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) agent. The copolymerization process is controlled by the RAFT agent, resulting in AEMs with a restricted molecular weight dispersion. As a result, RAFT-AEMs exhibit decreased water uptake and reduced swelling. A significant improvement in thermal and mechanical characteristics is evidenced, while the conductivity remains practically unaltered. Anion-exchange membrane fuel cell (AEMFC) tests revealed that conventional RIG-AEMs and RAFT-AEMs with low RAFT content (5 wt%) have comparable beginning-of-life performances (~0.95 W cm− 2 ). However, for higher RAFT contents, the performance trends to decrease indicating an imbalance in water management. Furthermore, short-term stability tests suggest that RAFT-AEMs are able to operate highly stable, with a conductivity rate loss of 0.05% h− 1 , which represents an improvement of 160% in comparison to conventional RIG-AEM. AFM analysis demonstrated that structural ordering molecular and morphology tailor the fundamental properties of ETFE-based AEMs, combining enhanced performance and stability for alkaline fuel cell applications.1-12openAccession exchangemembranespolyethylenespolymersgraft polymersfuel cellsTailoring highly stable anion exchange membranes with graft molecular structure ordering using reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization for alkaline fuel cellsArtigo de periódico68710.1016/j.memsci.2023.1220710000-0002-5972-59330000-0002-0127-8130https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5972-5933https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0127-813093.995.25