%0 Journal Article
%A Zhao, Yue
%A Yoshimura, Kimio
%A Yu, Hwan-Chul
%A Maekawa, Yasunari
%A Hiroki, Akihiro
%A Kishiyama, Yoshihiro
%A Shishitani, Hideyuki
%A Yamaguchi, Susumu
%A Tanaka, Hirohisa
%A Koizumi, Satoshi
%A Appavou, Marie-Sousai
%A Houston, Judith
%A Radulescu, Aurel
%A Richter, Dieter
%T Small angle neutron scattering study on the morphology of imidazolium-based grafted anion-conducting fuel cell membranes
%J Physica / B Condensed matter B
%V 551
%@ 0921-4526
%C Amsterdam
%I Elsevier
%M FZJ-2018-07403
%P 203 - 207
%D 2018
%X Two imidazolium based graft-type of anion-conducting electrolyte membranes (AEMs) for fuel cells with a moderate ion exchange capacity of ∼1.0 mmol/g were successfully prepared by radiation-induced grafting to introduce imidazolium and styrene units into a poly(ethylene-co-tetrafluoroethylene) (ETFE) base film. Though imidazolium groups were desired to connect with styrene groups via two different ways, i.e. parallel or perpendicular orientations to the graft-polymer chains via copolymerization (AEM1) or homo-polymerization (AEM2), both AEMs possess high ion conductivity (>100 mS/cm at 60 °C) and modest stability. The morphologies of these membranes were elucidated by small-angle neutron scattering method. Our results revealed that 1) both AEMs show clear microphase separation with a length scale of 30–40 nm, and the semi-crystalline structural feature of the hydrophobic microdomains contributes to the membrane mechanical property; 2) at the length scale <6 nm, ionic structures of the two AEMs are different: Parallel type of AEM1 shows a homogeneous distribution of ions in the ion channel; while perpendicular type of AEM2 shows ionic clusters nanophase-separated from the graft polymers.
%F PUB:(DE-HGF)16
%9 Journal Article
%U <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000455012800042
%R 10.1016/j.physb.2018.01.064
%U https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/858532