Highly basic ionomers and membranes and anion/hydroxide exchange fuel cells comprising the ionomers and membranes
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorsYushan Yan, Shuang Gu, Rui Cai
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
This invention provides a family of functionalized polymers capable of forming membranes having exceptional OH− ionic conductivity as well as advantageous mechanical properties. The invention also provides membranes including the provided polymers and AEMFC/HEMFC fuel cells including such membranes. In a preferred embodiment, preferred function groups include a quaternary phosphonium, and in a more preferred embodiment the provided polymer is (tris(2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl) phosphine)3 functionalized phosphonium polysulfone hydroxide.
Claims30
A highly basic ionomer comprising [M1(−B+)x]n(OH−)m, wherein M1 is a polymer-forming monomer comprising an aromatic moiety or a plurality of such monomers at least one of which comprises an aromatic moiety and B+OH− is a highly basic functional group having a pKb of between −0.2-0.2;
- wherein x is defined as the mol ratio of the basic group to the M1 and is between 0.01-10;
- n is defined as number of the repeat unit M1 and is between 10-10000;
- and m is the number of equilibrated mols of OH−, m equals to the product of x and n.
A method of making (tris(2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl) phosphine)x based polysulfone hydroxide (TPQPOH-x) comprising:
- chloromethylating polysulfone (PSf) dissolved in an inert solvent for a selected reaction time;
- and
- combining tris(2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl) phosphine (TTMOPP)+Y− and chloromethylated polysulfone (CMPSf) in a polar, aprotic solvent under conditions leading to synthesis of (tris(2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl) phosphine)x based polysulfone hydroxide, wherein Y″ comprises a leaving group suitable ion exchange;
- and x is defined as the mol ratio of the basic group to the M1;
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.