Polybenzoxazines (PBOA), a novel phenolic resins, has been developed for solving the shortcomings associated with traditional phenolic resins. Although PBOA has promising properties as PEM (polymer electrolyte membrane) material, such as strong mechanical, thermal and chemical stability in both acid and base environments1-4, however, few studies on the application of PBOA to PEMs have been reported probably due to the poor processability of this thermosetting resin.we reported on a novel PBOA based PEM material as membrane and electrode additive with excellent mechanical stability and high proton conductivity for high temperature fuel cell (> 150 �C) without gas crossover. Introducing a thermosetting resin into existing thermoplastic polymer results in great enhancement on chemical stability and it is the first example for applying cost-effective thermosetting resin which has hardly been used as membrane into existing PEM.Phosphoric acid (PA)-doped polybenzimidazoles (PBIs) are investigated as a promising materials for PEMFCs operating at high temperatures (>100 oC)5. Poly(2,5-benzimidazole) (ABPBI) is another family of PBIs. Since it can be synthesized from a single monomer, thus tiresome work such as monomer purification and effort to balance the stoichiometry can be avoided6. Despite its obvious advantages, the study of ABPBI remains in their infancy because of their critical drawbacks including infusibility in any organic solvents and loss of stabilities at high PA content. The increase of PA content in PBI membranes is of help to the proton transport, but resulting in the deterioration of the chemical and mechanical stabilities. Herein We introduce a polybenzoxazine (PBOA) even on ABPBI to resolve the stability problems of ABPBI at high PA content7, let alone membrane fabrication simplification.Therefore, this novel thermosetting material is expected to open a new domain for commercialization of HTPEMFC.

Polybenzoxazine based copolymeric membranes: Design and development of polymer electrolyte membranes including their fabrication methods for high temperature fuel cell applications

246th National Meeting (2013)

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