Alkaline anion exchange membranes based on KOH-treated multilayer graphene oxide

A novel class of alkaline anion exchange membrane (AAEM) is presented, in the form of KOH-modified multilayer graphene oxide paper (GO(KOH)). Such membranes can be easily fabricated at large scale with varying thickness using conventional filtration techniques, and have high tensile strength (24.5 MPa). However, a large degree of swelling is observed. SEM investigations show that the morphology of GO changes after KOH-treatment, whilst XPS measurements and XRD analysis confirm successful chemical modification. The hydrogen gas permeability is several orders of magnitude lower than conventional polymer-based ionomer membranes. The maximum anion conductivity is 6.1 mS/cm at 70 degrees C, and the dominant charge carrier is confirmed to be OH- by utilization of anion and proton-conducting blocking layers. The ion exchange capacity is 6.1 mmol/g, measured by titration. A water-mediated reverse Grotthuss-like mechanism is proposed as the main diffusion mode of OH- ions. Finally, a prototype AAEM fuel cell is fabricated using a GO(KOH) membrane, confirming the applicability to real systems. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.