Anion Exchange Ionomer With A Poyarylene Backbone and Anion Exchange Membrane Incorporating Same

Abstract

An anion exchange ionomer is disclosed that contains a fluorinated, ether-free backbone, and a fluorinated ether based quaternary ammonium functional group. The novel polymer has improved chemical and mechanical stability as compared to the state-of-the-art materials for incorporation in anion exchange membrane. The disclosed anion exchange ionomer may be incorporated into an anion exchange membrane and used in electrochemical applications.

Claims

1. An anion exchange ionomer comprising: a) a polyarylene backbone bonded with a fully fluorinated alkyl hydrocarbon, and b) a fluorinated ether side group.

2. The anion exchange ionomer of claim 1, wherein the backbone comprises a tetrafluoroethylene compound.

3. The anion exchange ionomer of claim 1, wherein the backbone comprises a polyphenylene compound.

4. The anion exchange ionomer of claim 1, comprising a fluorinated ether based quaternary ammonium functional group.

5. An anion exchange membrane comprising the polymer of claim 1 and a porous scaffold.

6. The anion exchange membrane of claim 5, wherein the porous scaffold is comprises poly(tetrafluoroethylene).

7. The anion exchange membrane of claim 6, wherein the porous polytetrafluoroethylene is expanded polytetrafluoroethylene.

8. The anion exchange membrane of claim 5, wherein the porous scaffold is selected from the group consisting of: polyethylene, polypropylene, polyether-ether-ketone (PEEK), and poly(tetrafluoroethylene).

9. The ion exchange membrane of claim 8, wherein a thickness of the exchange membrane is no more than 50 μm.

10. The ion exchange membrane of claim 8, wherein a thickness of the exchange membrane is no more than 25 μm.

11. A method of making the anion exchange ionomer of claim 1, comprising: a) reacting polyarylene with fluoroalkyl ketone 2-Bromo-1,1,2,2-tetrafluoroethyl trifluorovinyl ether in the presence of a strong acid having a pH of no more than 2.0.

12. The method of making the anion exchange ionomer of claim 11, wherein the strong acid has a pH of no more than 1.0.

13. The method of making the anion exchange ionomer of claim 11, wherein the strong acid has a pH of no more than 0.5.

14. The method of making the anion exchange ionomer of claim 11, wherein the strong acid triflic acid.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0048] The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.

[0049] FIG. 1 shows representative examples of anion exchange polymers disclosed in this invention

[0050] FIG. 2 shows representative examples of anion exchange polymers disclosed in this invention

[0051] FIG. 3 shows an exemplary porous scaffold reinforcement material employed in the present invention.

[0052] FIG. 4 shows an exemplary anion exchange membrane formed from imbibing an anion exchange polymer into a porous scaffold reinforcement material.

[0053] FIG. 5 shows an exemplary anion exchange membrane formed from imbibing two various anion exchange polymers into a porous scaffold reinforcement material.

[0054] FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C show degradation mechanisms of quaternary ammonium functional groups.

[0055] FIG. 7 shows the reaction mechanism for forming a polyarylene-based anion exchange ionomer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

[0056] Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the figures. The figures represent an illustration of some of the embodiments of the present invention and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner. Further, the figures are not necessarily to scale, some features may be exaggerated to show details of particular components. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention.

[0057] As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” “including,” “has,” “having” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Also, use of “a” or “an” are employed to describe elements and components described herein. This is done merely for convenience and to give a general sense of the scope of the invention. This description should be read to include one or at least one and the singular also includes the plural unless it is obvious that it is meant otherwise.

[0058] FIGS. 1 and 2 shows the chemical structure of exemplary anion exchange polymers of the present invention.

[0059] FIG. 3 shows an exemplary cross-sectional diagram of porous scaffold 9 has a thickness 40 from a first side 10 and an opposite second side 20. The porous scaffold has pores 30 and an open structure from the first side 10 to the second side 20, allowing for an appropriate fluid to flow from the first to the second side. The porous scaffold is air permeable.

[0060] FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional diagram of an anion exchange membrane 90 comprising a porous scaffold 9 imbibed with an anion exchange polymer 70 which contributes ionic conductivity. The anion exchange polymer forms surface layers 50 and 60 on the two faces of the imbibed porous scaffold.

[0061] FIG. 5 shows a multilayered anion exchange membrane 900 comprise a first layer 100 comprising an anion exchange polymer with a functional group 200 and a second layer 110 comprising another anion exchange polymer with a second functional group 210, both imbibed into the porous scaffold 9.

[0062] FIGS. 6A, 6B and 6C highlight the respective degradation reaction pathways. Given that all these reactions can be initiated by nucleophiles such as OH—, the high-pH environment in AEMFC/AEMWE makes it inevitable that the QA will be degraded over time.

[0063] As shown in FIG. 7, an aromatic compound reacts in the presence of a strong acid with 2-Bromo-1,1,2,2-tetrafluoroethyl trifluorovinyl ether to form bromoalkylated precursor polymer. The bromoalkylated precursor polymer is reacted with a trialkylamine (TMA) and sodium hydroxide to form a perfluorinated anion exchange ionomer having a backbone free of ether linkages.

[0064] Certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described herein and are illustrated in the accompanying figures. The embodiments described are only for purposes of illustrating the present invention and should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the invention. Other embodiments of the invention, and certain modifications, combinations and improvements of the described embodiments, will occur to those skilled in the art and all such alternate embodiments, combinations, modifications, improvements are within the scope of the present invention.