A device for transport of ions and/or charged molecules between a source and a target electrolyte, comprising: a first electrode provided at or in said source electrolyte, and a second electrode provided at or in said target electrolyte; and wherein said first and second electrodes provides an electrical control of an ion flow, and further comprising means for limiting an electronic current between said source and said target electrodes, such that at least after a voltage is applied a potential difference between said source and target electrodes is maintained, which effects ion transport from said source to said target electrode; wherein the device further comprises an ion- and/or permselective polyelectrolyte for transport ions and/or charged molecules via electrophoresis and functions as an ion-selective membrane; and wherein said polyelectrolyte comprises a cross-linked hyperbranched polymer.

A functional polymer membrane of the present invention contains a polymer containing at least a structure represented by the following Formula (I), a method for producing the membrane, and an ion exchange apparatus: ##STR00001##
wherein R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 each represent a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group; R.sup.3 to R.sup.6 each represent a substituent; R.sup.3 to R.sup.6 may be bonded to each other and form a ring; A.sup.1 to A.sup.4 each represent a single bond or a divalent linking group; M.sup.1 represents a hydrogen ion, an organic base ion, or a metal ion; J.sup.1 represents a single bond, O, S, SO.sub.2, CO, CR.sup.8R.sup.9, or an alkenylene group, and R.sup.8 and R.sup.9 each represent a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, or a halogen atom; and k1, k2, k3, k4, n1, n2, m1, m2, p, and q each represent a particular integer.

Disclosed are polyimide blends and methods of making and using same. The disclosed polyimide blends are prepared by first blending an ionic polymer and a poly(amic acid) to form a poly(amic acid) precursor, followed by cyclization. This abstract is intended as a scanning tool for purposes of searching in the particular art and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention.

To make membranes, a plurality of membrane substrates are each wetted with a curable liquid mixture, arranged in a stack such that every pair of substrates are separated by at least one film, and moved simultaneously through a common curing region. Each wetted substrate sheet may be sandwiched between two films. After curing, the stack comprises two or more membranes with each pair of membranes separated by a film. An apparatus for making membranes comprises at least two substrate feeding devices, at least one film feeding device, one or more chemical wetting devices, a curing region, optionally, a stack separating region, and, optionally, a membrane binding or fusing region. Membrane production rate may be increased while the curing energy required per unit area of membrane is decreased. The method can make, for example, ion exchange membranes.

A method of fabricating a composite membrane, includes the steps of: forming a first solution comprising a charged polymer and a first uncharged polymer having a repeat unit of a formula of: ##STR00001##
where each of X and Y is a non-hydroxyl group; forming a second solution comprising a second uncharged polymer; electrospinning, separately and simultaneously, the first solution and the second solution to form a dual fiber mat; and processing the dual fiber mat to form the composite membrane.

A polysulfone membrane is modified so that monomers are grafted onto the surface of the membrane. The polysulfone membranes can be grafted by contacting the membrane with a grafting solution and exposing the membrane to electromagnetic radiation, typically within the ultraviolet portion of the spectrum. The monomers that are grafted are typically anionic or cationic. The grafted membranes can be used for filtering impurities, such as positively and negatively charged particles, from a liquid. Anionic membranes provide improved filtration of negatively charged impurities, while cationic membranes provide improved filtration of positively charged impurities.

An ion exchange membrane is provided with a nanostructure material of random poly(ethylene glycol)-polyimide copolymers doped and annealed in an ionic liquid, the poly(ethylene glycol) having a molecular weight ranging from 1000 to 4000 and the poly(ethylene glycol) representing at least 40% of the volume of the ion exchange membrane. It is shown that the conductivity of these membranes was dramatically increased by the thermal annealing by 2-5 times. It was also shown that nanoscale structures were developed upon heating the membranes involving the increment of order, definition, and size of the poly(ethylene glycol)-ethylammonium nitrate [PEG+EAN] domains by the SAXS data analysis. This structural change improves the ion conduction in the membrane and result in the considerable enhancement of the conductivity.

An aprotic polymer/molten salt ternary mixture solvent and to a corresponding quaternary mixture additionally including an ionic conducting salt, which are prepared by mixing the constituents of the mixture. These mixtures are advantageously used in the preparation of electrochemical membranes, electrochemical systems and of electrochromic systems. Also, electrochemical and electrochromic systems obtained hereby that exhibit, in particular, excellent electrochemical properties at low temperatures.

A sulfonated polyphosphazene copolymer proton exchange membrane material, and a method for preparing such membrane includes a macromolecule initiator as bromo polyphosphazene is subjected to atom transfer radical polymerization with styrene, yielding a graft copolymer, which is hydrazinolyzed with hydrazine hydrate resulting in a copolymer including a hydroxyl group. The copolymer is reacted with 1,4-butane sultone to yield a sulfonated copolymer finally. The polymer is cross-linked with 2,6-di(hydroxymethyl)-4-methyl phenol (BHMP) as a cross linking agent in the presence of methyl sulfonic acid, yielding cross-linked proton exchange membrane. Such cross-linked graft copolymer membrane has high proton conductivity, low methanol hindrance, and low cost, and has ideal effect when applied in fuel cells as proton exchange membrane material.

Provided are a polymer electrolyte composition, an electrolyte membrane, a membrane electrolyte assembly, and a fuel cell. The polymer electrolyte composition according to an exemplary embodiment of this application includes a first solvent, a second solvent which is different from the first solvent, and a polymer which is reacted with the first solvent and the second solvent, in which the polymer includes a functional group which reacts with the first solvent by a first reaction energy and with the second solvent by a second reaction energy, and the second reaction energy is smaller than the first reaction energy.