International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Vol.42, No.42, 26511-26521, 2017
Facile synthesis of Br-PPO/f GO based polymer electrolyte membranes for electrochemical applications
We report the synthesis of anion exchange membrane based on brominated poly (2, 6-dimethyl-1, 4-phenylene oxide) (PPO) and polyethyleneimine (PEI) modified graphene oxide (GO). The prepared membrane are characterized electrochemically in terms of ion exchange capacity (IEC), water uptake (W-t), dimensional stability (S-d), and membrane ionic conductivity (phi). The surface morphology and structural analysis of membrane were performed by using AFM, TEM, FT-IR, XRD and (HNMR)-H-1. Thermal and mechanical analysis was done by using TGA, DMA and UTM. QP-5 membrane show good thermal and mechanical stability among all prepared membranes. The ionic conductivity and IEC value was found maximum in QP-5 and the value is 7.1 x 10(-2) S cm(-1) and 3.59 meq g(-1). Mechanical study was determined by universal testing machine (UTM) analysis shows QP-5 membrane best among the membranes with modulus 6.5 MPa. The methanol crossover resistance for QP-5 membrane is calculated to be 2.27 x 10(-7) cm(2)/s with the selectivity of 3.4 x 10(4). The power consumption during salt removal is also found to be lower compared to other synthesized membranes. (C) 2017 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.