Polyarylene polymers and ion conducting functionalized polyarylene polymers resulting from pairing bis-diene arylenes and bis-dienophile arylenes via a diels-alder reaction
AssigneeEnergy Materials Corporation
InventorDougles Anson Loy
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Abstract
The invention discloses a group of novel and functionalized arylene polymers that comprise repeat units from a group consisting of polyarylene, polybenzimidazolene, polybenzimidazole, and poly(arylene-co-cyclohexadiene). The compositions are created via Diels-Alder polymerization and result in a polymer that is chemically and thermally stable. The polyarylene polymers can be used to create improved polymer electrolyte membranes that overcome the limitations of Nafion® membranes for use in fuel cells.
Claims19
A polyarylene polymer comprising repeat units selected from a group consisting of the following chemical formulas:
- wherein Ar1 and Ar2 are Arene groups capable of connecting the repeat units, and each Arene group is an un-substituted or an inertly substituted aromatic moiety, wherein the repeat units comprise at least two phenylene or cyclohexadienyl rings, each phenylene or cyclohexadienyl ring comprising substituent pendant groups R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, and R8, each substituent pendant group is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, an unsubstituted aromatic moiety, an inertly-substituted aromatic moiety, and an aromatic moiety substituted with one or more functional groups comprising sulfonic acid groups or functional groups that are subsequently convertible to sulfonic acid groups selected from the group consisting of thiol ethers, thiol acetates, disulfides, phenols and ethers;
- and wherein n ranges from 2 to 50,000.
A polyarylene polymer comprising benzimidazolene and benzimidazole polyarylene electrolytes which comprise repeat units selected from the group consisting of the following chemical formulas:
- wherein Ar1 and Ar2 are Arene groups capable of connecting the repeat units, and each Arene group is an un-substituted or an inertly substituted aromatic moiety, and the repeat units comprise at least two benzimidazolene or benzimidazole rings, each benzimidazolene and benzimidazole ring comprising substituent pendant groups R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, and R8, each substituent pendant group being selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, an unsubstituted aromatic moiety, an inertly-substituted aromatic moiety and an aromatic moiety substituted with one or more functional groups comprising sulfonic acid groups or functional groups that are subsequently convertible to sulfonic acid groups selected from the group consisting of thiol ethers, thiol acetates, disulfides, phenols and ethers;
- and wherein n ranges from 2 to 50,000.
Polyarylene polymers bearing cyclohexadiene groups in a polymer backbone comprising a repeat unit of the following chemical formula:
- wherein Ar1 and Ar2 are Arene groups capable of connecting the repeat units, and two Arene groups connect cyclohexadiene groups, and each Arene group is an un-substituted or an inertly substituted aromatic moiety;
- wherein the repeat units comprise at least two cyclohexadiene groups;
- wherein each cyclohexadiene group comprises substituent pendant groups, R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, and R8, each substituent pendant group comprising H or an unsubstituted or an inertly-substituted aromatic moiety, an aromatic moiety substituted with one or more functional groups comprising sulfonic acid groups or functional groups that are subsequently convertible to sulfonic acid groups selected from the group consisting of thiol ethers, thiol acetates, disulfides, phenols and ethers;
- and wherein n ranges from 2 to 50,000.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.