ScholarWorks@경상국립대학교

초록

Alkaline polymer electrolytes (APEs) are essential materials for alkaline energy conversion devices such as anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs) and water electrolyzers (AEMWEs). Here, we report a series of branched poly(aryl-co-aryl piperidinium) with different branching agents (triptycene: highly-rigid, three-dimensional structure; triphenylbenzene: planar, two-dimensional structure) for high-performance APEs. Among them, triptycene branched APEs showed excellent hydroxide conductivity (193.5 mS cm−1@80 °C), alkaline stability, mechanical properties, and dimensional stability due to the formation of branched network structures, and increased free volume. AEMFCs based on triptycene-branched APEs reached promising peak power densities of 2.503 and 1.705 W cm−2 at 75/100 % and 30/30 % (anode/cathode) relative humidity, respectively. In addition, the fuel cells can run stably at a current density of 0.6 A cm−2 for 500 h with a low voltage decay rate of 46 μV h−1. Importantly, the related AEMWE achieved unprecedented current densities of 16 A cm−2 and 14.17 A cm−2 (@2 V, 80 °C, 1 M NaOH) using precious and non-precious metal catalysts, respectively. Moreover, the AEMWE can be stably operated under 1.5 A cm−2 at 60 °C for 2000 h. The excellent results suggest that the triptycene-branched APEs are promising candidates for future AEMFC and AEMWE applications. © 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.

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