En termes d’économie d’énergie, la réduction de trainée revêt un intérêt indéniable. Dans certains cas, ce phénomène obtenu grâce à l’ajout dans le milieu de faibles quantités d’additifs peut atteindre une réduction du frottement à la paroi, en régime turbulent, allant jusqu’à 80% comparé au fluide seul. On le retrouve dans divers domaines d’applications telles quele transport des hydrocarbures et dans les circuits d’eau de chauffage et de refroidissement.Trois systèmes qui ont la capacité de s’autoorganiser en milieux aqueux ou organique ont été étudiés dans le but de vérifier leur possible aptitude à réduire le frottement hydrodynamique.On s’est intéressé à un polysavon (80C12) composé d’un squelette polystyrène auquel sont liées des amines tertiaires portant des chaines alkyles de 12 carbones. Ce composé forme des micelles dans l’eau dont la forme cylindrique a été mise en évidence par diffusion de la lumière et Cryo-MET. L’étude du transfert de masse sur une électrode à disque tournant et les résultats rhéologiques ont mis en évidence le caractère viscoélastique qui est responsable duphénomène de réduction de frottement hydrodynamique recherché.Des études rhéologiques réalisés sur les systèmes lécithine/décane et ionomère/toluène ont permis de mettre en évidence le caractère viscoélastique des associations anisotropes de ces composés. / In terms of energy saving, drag reduction hasan undeniable interest. In some cases drag reduction with additives can reach 80% compared to pure solvent. This phenomenon has applications in many fields suchas transportation of hydrocarbons and cooling and heating systems. Three systems which have the capacity to selforganizein aqueous or organic media have been studied in order to check their possible ability to reduce hydrodynamic friction.We worked on a polysoap (80C12) based on polystyrene skeleton to which tertiary amines bearing alkyls chains of 12 carbons. This compound formsmicelles in water whose cylindrical shape has been demonstrated by light scattering and Cryo-TEM. The studies of the mass transfer on a rotating disk electrode and the rheological results have showed for the 80C12solutions several characteristics attributed to the dragreducing additives.Rheological studies on the systems lecithin/decane and ionomers/toluene, highlight the viscoelastic properties of the anisotropic associations of these compounds.

Ces travaux ont été dédiés à la synthèse et la caractérisation de nouveaux ionomères aromatiques à blocs pour les PEMFC. Les blocs hydrophiles sont constitués par des polysufones fonctionnalisés par des chaînes latérales alkylperfluorosulfoniques, les blocs hydrophobes sont des polysulfones partiellement fluorés. La synthèse du squelette polymère a été réalisée par de polycondensation, les fonctions ioniques ont été greffées par un couplage d'Ullmann. Trois ionomères de différentes capacités d'échange ionique ont été synthétisés en modulant les longueurs des blocs porteurs des fonctions alkylperflurosulfoniques. Ces ionomères ont été mis en œuvre sous forme de membranes par coulée-évaporation. L'impact du solvant d'élaboration et de la structure chimique des ionomères sur la morphologie et les propriétés intrinsèques des membranes ont été largement étudiés. Le solvant de mise en œuvre de la membrane a un effet spectaculaire sur l'organisation des chaînes polymères à l'échelle nanométrique. Les études par diffusion des neutrons aux petits angles montrent que la morphologie des membranes est dépendante de la longueur des blocs hydrophiles. Les propriétés thermomécaniques et les conductivités protoniques des membranes ionomères aromatiques sont supérieures au Nafion, au-delà de 60°C, ce qui les rend prometteuses pour l'application PEMFC opérant à plus de 100°C. / The purpose of this work was the synthesis and characterization of new aromatic ionomers for PEMFC. The ionomers are based on block copolymers containing hydrophilic blocks, functionalised with a perfluorinated acid, and hydrophobic blocks containing partially perfluorinated aromatic rings. The polymer main chain was performed by polycondensation reaction. The acidic functions were grafted onto the polymer in two steps: bromination and coupling Ullman reaction. Different copolymers with different lengths of hydrophilic block were synthetized. The membranes were obtained by casting, the impact of the solvent nature and Ionomer structure on the membrane morphology and properties was studied. The solvent has a strong impact on the membrane structuration at nanometric scale. By small angle neutrons scattering, we showed that the membrane morphology is depending on hydrophilic bloc length. The mechanical strengths and the conductivities of aromatic ionomer membranes are higher that the Nafion above 60°C that make them promising for PEMFC working at temperature higher than 100°C.

Non-covalent interactions including nucleobase hydrogen bonding and phosphonium/ammonium ionic aggregation were studied in block and random polymers synthesized using controlled radical polymerization techniques such as nitroxide mediated polymerization (NMP) and reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization (RAFT). Non-covalent interactions were expected to increase the effective molecular weight of the polymeric precursors through intermolecular associations and to induce microphase separation. The influence of non-covalent association on the structure/property relationships of these materials were studied in terms of physical properties (tensile, DMA, rheology) as well as morphological studies (AFM, SAXS). Ionic interactions, which possess stronger interaction energies than hydrogen bonds (~150 kJ/mol) were studied in the context of phosphonium-containing acrylate triblock (ABA) copolymers and random copolymers. Phosphonium-containing ionic liquid monomers with different alkyl substituent lengths and counterions enabled an investigation of the effects of ionic aggregation of phosphonium cations on the polymer physical properties. The polymerization of styrenic phosphonium-containing ionic liquid monomers using a difunctional alkoxyamine initiator, DEPN2, afforded an ABA triblock copolymer with an n-butyl acrylate soft center block and symmetric phosphonium-containing external reinforcing blocks. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of triblock copolymers revealed pronounced microphase separation at the nanoscale. Phosphonium aggregation governed block copolymer flow activation energies. In random copolymers, the phosphonium cations only weakly aggregated, which strongly depended on the length of alkyl substituents and the type of counterions. Acrylate random copolymers consisting of quaternary ammonium functionalities were synthesized using reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization (RAFT). The obtained copolymers possessed controlled compositions and narrow molecular weight distributions with molecular weights ranging from Mn =50,000 to 170,000 g/mol. DMA evidenced the weak aggregation of ammonium cations in the solid state. Additionally, this ionomer was salt-responsive in NaCl aqueous solutions. Hydrogen bonding, a dynamic interaction with intermediate enthalpies (10-40 kJ/mol) was introduced through complementary heterocyclic DNA nucleobases such as adenine, thymine and uracil. Our investigations in this field have focused on the use of DNA nucleobase pair interactions to control polymer self-assembly and rheological behavior. Novel acrylic adenine- and thymine-containing monomers were synthesized from aza-Michael addition reaction. The long alkyl spacers between nucleobase and polymer backbone afforded structural flexibility in self-assembly process. Adenine-containing polyacrylates exhibited unique morphologies due to adenine-adenine π-π interactions. The complementary hydrogen bonding of adenine and thymine resulted in disruption of adenine-adenine π-π interactions, leading to lower plateau modulus and lower softening temperatures. Moreover, hydrogen bonding interactions enabled the compatibilization of complementary hydrogen bonding guest molecules such as uracil phosphonium chloride. / Ph. D.

Perfluorinated sulfonic acid (PFSA) ionomer membranes demonstrate great potential for use in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) due to their favorable electronic properties and excellent efficiency. However, the assignment of key vibrational transitions such as the symmetric sulfonate and ether stretches is not yet fully understood depriving researchers of a quick and simple technique for analyzing morphological changes. The symmetric sulfonate stretch could be used to track changes in the ionic clusters formed within the membrane while the ether stretch will provide insight into the largely semi-crystalline PTFE phase. Alterations in either regime will affect both ion transport and mechanical properties and produce a major shift in device performance. This study focused on predicting the vibrational transitions for Aquivion, 3M PFSA, and Nafion using density functional theory (DFT) with the bulk being performed using the same functional and basis set combination, B3LPY/6-31+G*. For all three ionomers, the predicted vibrational transitions were affected by changes in both the conformer and solvation method with water being used as the solvent. Despite the noted changes, both vibrational transitions were determined to be within the range of 970-1100 cm-1 with the symmetric sulfonate stretch present at around 970-1010 cm-1 and the ether stretch observed at around 1050-1100 cm-1 with solvation present. While the calculated peak positions mirror those found in the experimental spectra within the literature, the traditional normal mode assignments do not match those predicted by our calculations. However, recent studies have hypothesized that these vibrational transitions are coupled, which could explain why they have been so difficult to assign. / Master of Science / Perfluorinated sulfonic acid (PFSA) ionomer membranes show great promise for use in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) due to their excellent efficiency. However, the current techniques used to determine changes in structural configurations require sophisticated equipment and trained personnel to operate. Simpler techniques exist wherein the vibrations of certain bonds can be measured upon exposure of the sample to measured amounts of infrared light. The problem with this technique is that researchers currently do not fully understand at what wavelengths certain portions of the polymer known as functional groups will vibrate. These vibrations are also known as vibrational transitions. This study was undertaken to predict through numerical solutions to the Schrödinger equation at what wavelengths two particular vibrational transitions would occur for three common ionomers, Aquivion, 3M PFSA, and Nafion. For all three structures, the positions of these transitions mirrored that observed within the literature although the functional groups assigned to these positions did not match with those identified by our calculations. However, recent studies have indicated that these vibrational transitions occur at the same positions, which could explain why they have been so difficult to assign.

Highly proton conducting polymers for operation in hydrogen/oxygen proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) provide often a poor mechanical strength due to high water contents. To strengthen the conducting polymers, blends with different ratios of partially fluorinated sulfonic acid graft and diblock copolymers with perfluorinated polymers were prepared. To analyze the effect of the different quantities of the compounds, with regard to water sorption and proton conducting properties, membranes were prepared by dissolving the components and drop casting. Partially sulfonated poly([vinylidene difluoride-co-chlorotrifluoroethylene]-g-styrene) (P(VDF-co-CTFE)-g-SPS) was blended with polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF), decreasing the ion exchange capacity (IEC). The blended polymers absorbed less water. However, the by AC impedance spectroscopy determined proton conductivity stayed stable or increased slightly. The effective proton mobility remained constant. Partially sulfonated poly([vinylidene difluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene]-b-styrene) (P(VDF-co-HFP)-b-SPS) with two different PS-block lengths were blended with different amounts of poly(vinylidene difluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (P(VDF-co-HFP)). In that case, the polymers absorbed less water and the proton conductivity decreased stepwise by adding more than 20 wt% P(VDF-co-HFP). The results indicate that a blending of P(VDF-co-CTFE)-g-SPS with PVDF inhibits swelling without having an effect on the proton conductivity, though water sorption and IEC are reduced.

Highly proton conducting polymers for operation in hydrogen/oxygen proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) provide often a poor mechanical strength due to high water contents. To strengthen the conducting polymers, blends with different ratios of partially fluorinated sulfonic acid graft and diblock copolymers with perfluorinated polymers were prepared. To analyze the effect of the different quantities of the compounds, with regard to water sorption and proton conducting properties, membranes were prepared by dissolving the components and drop casting. Partially sulfonated poly([vinylidene difluoride-co-chlorotrifluoroethylene]-g-styrene) (P(VDF-co-CTFE)-g-SPS) was blended with polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF), decreasing the ion exchange capacity (IEC). The blended polymers absorbed less water. However, the by AC impedance spectroscopy determined proton conductivity stayed stable or increased slightly. The effective proton mobility remained constant. Partially sulfonated poly([vinylidene difluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene]-b-styrene) (P(VDF-co-HFP)-b-SPS) with two different PS-block lengths were blended with different amounts of poly(vinylidene difluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (P(VDF-co-HFP)). In that case, the polymers absorbed less water and the proton conductivity decreased stepwise by adding more than 20 wt% P(VDF-co-HFP). The results indicate that a blending of P(VDF-co-CTFE)-g-SPS with PVDF inhibits swelling without having an effect on the proton conductivity, though water sorption and IEC are reduced.:1 Introduction 2 Literature Review 2.1 Fuel Cells 2.1.1 Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells 2.1.2 Other Types of Fuel Cells 2.2 Proton Conductivity 2.3 Proton Conducting Polymers 2.4 Impedance Spectroscopy 2.5 Polymers 2.6 Blending 2.7 Synthesis 2.7.1 Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization 2.7.2 Emulsion Polymerization 3 Results 3.1 Synthesis 3.1.1 Polyvinylidene Diuoride (PVDF) 3.1.2 Diblock Copolymers P(VDF-co-HFP)-b-SPS and Blends 3.1.3 Graft Copolymer P(VDF-co-HFP)-b-SPS Blends 3.2 Degree of Sulfonation 3.3 Ionomer Content 3.4 Ion Exchange Capacity 3.5 Water Content and Uptake 3.6 Proton Concentration 3.7 Watermolecules per Ionic Group 3.8 Proton Conductivity 3.9 Proton Mobility 4 Discussion & Conclusion 5 Experimental Part 5.1 Synthesis 5.1.1 Synthesis of PVDF 5.1.2 Synthesis of P(VDF-co-HFP)-b-PS 5.1.3 Sulfonation of the Polystyrene Block 5.2 Polymer Characterization 5.3 Membrane Preparation 5.4 Membrane Characterization Bibliography Appendix