Polymer membrane materials enabling ionic transport
Our group develops new proton and hydroxide conducting polymers for fuel cell and electrolyser applications. Materials for both binder as well as membrane applications are targeted. Below are lists of functional polymers made in our group and funded projects.Proton conducting polymers
Our group is designing sulfonic acid-functionalised aromatic polymers for proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis (WE).[1]Polymers for anion exchange membrane water electrolysers
WE based on anion exchange membranes (AEM) promises to lower the costs of existing WE technologies and thus of green hydrogen production. In recent years, the scientific community has witnessed tremendous development of diverse base-stable, anion-conducting polymer membrane materials.[2] The challenge in the design of new polymeric membrane materials with improved and complete property profiles lies in the simultaneous consideration of various aspects, including simple and scalable synthetic transformations, hydrolytic, (electro-)chemical and mechanical stability and performance. Key characteristics of binder polymers and membrane materials are often much different from each other and require targeted tailoring of chemical structure according to known structure-function relationships. For example, while ionic conductivity and stability are most critical for membrane polymers, binders that act as polymeric glue for catalyst particles within a membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) additionally require a high level of gas permeation. The group´s work aims at understanding AEM materials from a molecular viewpoint. We combine synthetic expertise with in-depth analytical characterization to gain a comprehensive picture of the limiting factors of binder[3] and membrane materials[4] for AEM electrolyser applications.References