A series of triazole-containing polymers were synthesized to evaluate the effect of polymer matrix dielectric constant on proton transport ability.  For polymers with similar triazole contents, the observed proton conductivities increased by as much as 4 orders of magnitude when shifting from the low dielectric constant, polymethacrylate-based, materials to the high dielectric constant, polyethyleneimine-based analogs. The PEI-based materials showed excellent thermal and electrochemical stability between room temperature and 140 0C, and can be incorporated into mechanically robust diblock and triblock copolymer architectures. Extensions of this approach could be used to produce a new generation of highly conductive, mechanically robust, proton exchange membranes for water-free hydrogen fuel cell operation.  

Effect of polymer matrix dielectric constant on water-free proton transport: Towards efficient high temperature PEM fuel cell operation

248th National Meeting (2014)

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