Novel Filler-Filled-Type Polymer Electrolyte Membrane for PEFC Employing Poly(vinylphosphonic acid)- b-polystyrene-Coated Cellulose Nanocrystals as a Filler

Tomohiro Nohara; Toshihiko Arita; Keisuke Tabata; Takaaki Saito; Ryuichiro Shimada; Haruki Nakazaki; Yukina Suzuki; Ryota Sato; Akito Masuhara

doi:10.1021/acsami.1c18695

Novel Filler-Filled-Type Polymer Electrolyte Membrane for PEFC Employing Poly(vinylphosphonic acid)- b-polystyrene-Coated Cellulose Nanocrystals as a Filler

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2022 Feb 16;14(6):8353-8360. doi: 10.1021/acsami.1c18695. Epub 2022 Jan 22.

Authors

Tomohiro Nohara¹, Toshihiko Arita², Keisuke Tabata¹, Takaaki Saito¹, Ryuichiro Shimada¹, Haruki Nakazaki¹, Yukina Suzuki¹, Ryota Sato¹, Akito Masuhara^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Yamagata University, 4-3-16 Yonezawa, Yamagata 992-8510, Japan.
² Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials (IMRAM), Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8577, Japan.
³ Frontier Center for Organic Materials (FROM), Yamagata University, 4-3-16 Jonan, Yonezawa, Yamagata 992-8510, Japan.

PMID: 35067039
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c18695

Abstract

Low-acidity polymer electrolyte membranes are essential to polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) and water electrolysis systems, both of which are expected to be next-generation energy and hydrogen sources. We developed a new type of high-performance polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) in which the core particles are precisely electrolyte polymer coated and filled into binder resin. Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), which have attracted attention as light, rigid, and sustainable materials, were selected as the core material for the filler. The CNC surface was coated with a new block copolymer containing a proton conductive polymer of poly(vinylphosphonic acid) (PVPA) and a hydrophobic polymer of polystyrene (PS) using RAFT polymerization with particles (PwP) we developed. The pelletized fillers and the filler-filled polycarbonate membranes achieved proton conductivities of over 10^-2 S/cm with lower activation energies and much weaker acidity than the Nafion membrane.

Keywords: core−shell-type hybridized particles; filler-filled-type membrane; polymer electrolyte fuel cells; polymerization with particle (PwP) method; proton conductive polymer.