Synthesis and Properties of Fluorocarbon-Hydrocarbon Hybrid Block Copolymers with Perfluorosulfonimide Acid

Naohiro Hoshikawa; Akihiro Shinohara; Yoichi Hosokawa; Naoki Hasegawa; Masaya Kawasumi

doi:10.1021/acsomega.0c01972

Synthesis and Properties of Fluorocarbon-Hydrocarbon Hybrid Block Copolymers with Perfluorosulfonimide Acid

ACS Omega. 2020 Oct 19;5(43):27766-27773. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.0c01972. eCollection 2020 Nov 3.

Authors

Naohiro Hoshikawa¹, Akihiro Shinohara¹, Yoichi Hosokawa¹, Naoki Hasegawa¹, Masaya Kawasumi¹

Affiliation

¹ Toyota Central R&D Laboratories, Inc., 41-1 Yokomichi, Nagakute, Aichi 480-1192, Japan.

Abstract

Novel fluorocarbon-hydrocarbon hybrid block copolymer electrolytes were synthesized. The block copolymer electrolytes consist of poly(perfluoropropyl sulfonimide) (PC3SI) as a perfluorinated hydrophilic segment and poly(ether ether sulfone) as a hydrocarbon hydrophobic segment. The sulfonimide group of poly(perfluoropropyl sulfonimide) has superacidity, very low equivalent weight (EW = 293 g/equiv), and a proton conductivity of 1.2 × 10^-2 S/cm under dry conditions and 25 °C, although soluble in water. The proton conductivity of the block copolymer was 1.7 × 10^-3 S/cm at 20% relative humidity and 25 °C, which is three times as high as that of Nafion 112.