Non‐Superacid‐Catalyzed Preparation of Anion Exchange Membranes for High‐Performance Water Electrolyzers
Abstract
ABSTRACT Recent advances in anion exchange membrane water electrolyzers (AEMWEs) have been primarily driven by anion exchange membranes (AEMs) prepared via superacid‐catalyzed polymerization. However, the reliance on highly corrosive trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (TFSA; pKa = −14.7) employed both as catalyst and solvent poses significant safety, handling, and scalability challenges for industrial AEM manufacturing. Herein, we report a nonsuperacid polymerization strategy for AEMs, utilizing methanesulfonic acid (MSA; pKa = −1.9) to catalyze the Friedel–Crafts alkylation between electrophilic aminobenzaldehyde and electron‐rich dibenzo‐18‐crown‐6. Crown ether incorporation expands interchain spacing, thereby facilitating the formation of continuous hydrophilic ion‐conducting channels. Furthermore, complexation of potassium ions with crown ether moieties weakens the electrostatic interaction between K + and OH − , thereby lowering the dissociation energy of the KOH electrolyte. As a result, the optimized QPCA‐70 membrane exhibits a high alkaline conductivity of 628.93 mS cm −1 at 80 °C and delivers a current density of 8.8 A cm −2 at 2.0 V using a NiFeCo anode. Critically, MSA serves as a safer, more practical, and cost‐effective alternative to TFSA: it eliminates the extreme hazards associated with superacid handling, thereby enabling scalable, industrially viable, and low‐risk AEM production.
Article Details
Authors (10)
Jinhong Shi
Zhenquan Chen
Jiangsu Engineering Laboratory of Novel Functional Polymeric Materials Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Negative Carbon Technologies Suzhou Key Laboratory of Soft Material and New Energy College of Chemistry Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Soochow University Suzhou China
Hanchi Zhang
Jiangsu Engineering Laboratory of Novel Functional Polymeric Materials Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Negative Carbon Technologies Suzhou Key Laboratory of Soft Material and New Energy College of Chemistry Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Soochow University Suzhou China
Chengxiao Zhou
Jiangsu Engineering Laboratory of Novel Functional Polymeric Materials Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Negative Carbon Technologies Suzhou Key Laboratory of Soft Material and New Energy College of Chemistry Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Soochow University Suzhou China
Xiukai Shi
Jiangsu Engineering Laboratory of Novel Functional Polymeric Materials Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Negative Carbon Technologies Suzhou Key Laboratory of Soft Material and New Energy College of Chemistry Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Soochow University Suzhou China
Xi Wang
Tongxin Yin
Jiangsu Engineering Laboratory of Novel Functional Polymeric Materials Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Negative Carbon Technologies Suzhou Key Laboratory of Soft Material and New Energy College of Chemistry Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Soochow University Suzhou China
Xingyun Wang
Department of Pharmacology, SUSTech Homeostatic Medicine Institute, School of Medicine
Zhe Sun
Feng Yan
Materials Science and Engineering Program, School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy