High Conductive Anion Exchange Membranes from All-Carbon Twisted Intrinsic Microporous Polymers

This study obtained solution-tractable anion-selective membranes with intrinsic porous and highly ionic conductive capabilities by a convenient route. We used the coplanar structure of 9,9-dimethylxanthene to construct a rigid twisted intrinsic microporous all-carbon skeleton PDI with up to 363.4 m2 g-1 of Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface, and the pore was filled with a quaternary ammonium salt containing long flexible alkyl chains, which produced an efficient means of OH- transport. The conductivity of the resulting polymer (QPDI-100) is reached as high as 205 mS cm-1 at 80 degrees C. The size stability was determined to be good at high conductance and swelling ratio is less than 15% at 80 degrees C. QPDI-a exhibited good stability under alkaline conditions, and 90% of the conductivity of QPDI-100 was retained after being immersed in 1 M NaOH solution at 60 degrees C for 40 days. The power density of H2-O2 fuel cells at 60 degrees C was 437.7 mW cm-2. The prepared intrinsic porous anion exchange membranes (AEMs) demonstrate potential for the development of anion exchange membrane fuel cells. This membrane design strategy paves the way for a new generation of AEMs for the purposes of electrochemical energy conversion and storage.

Automated summary

This study obtained solution-tractable anion-selective membranes with intrinsic porous and highly ionic conductive capabilities by a convenient route. The membranes demonstrated good size stability and stability under alkaline conditions, making them suitable for the development of anion exchange membrane fuel cells.