京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第24587号 / 工博第5093号 / 新制||工||1975(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科合成・生物化学専攻 / (主査)教授 古川 修平, 教授 生越 友樹, 准教授 堀毛 悟史, 教授 松田 建児 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

High resolution solid state 1H NMR is used to investigate proton mobility of Nafion, Sulfonated Polyether Ether Ketones(S-PEEK) and their composites, which provides better understanding of their proton conductivities. Proton exchange between sulfonic acid groups and water was observed in these materials. The proton mobility is dependent on both the temperature and the water content. Variable temperature experiments were used to determine the activation energy for proton transportation which generally increases with decrease in hydration level. The preparation of Nafion/SiO2 composites can cause large difference in proton diffusion coefficients and proton conductivities in dried states. This indicates that the amount of dopants needs to be optimized to minimize the blocking of proton diffusion pathways by dopant particles. Detailed information on the control of surface hydroxyl groups in Nafion/SiO2 is obtained through the combination of 29Si and 1H NMR. Although hydrated Nafion/ZrP composites show reduced proton activation energy, they present lower proton conductivity at 35°C than unmodified Nafion. For composites dried at 160°C, both the conversion of monohydrogen phosphate into pyrophosphate and the protonation of monohydrogen phosphate have been observed, which could be one of reasons for the decreased proton conductivity after rehydration. Under high humidification, a single or multiple sulfonic acid proton environments was observed in S-PEEKs, which explains the small proton conductivity difference between some of S-PEEKs. However, the observed conductivity difference for S-PEEKs cast from different solvents was attributed to distinct mobilities of polymer chains. In the crosslinked S-PEEK, not all the crosslinkers of ethylene glycol are fully crosslinked. Proton exchange between residual sulfonic acid and hydroxyls of the crosslinker was observed, which is the primary reason that the crosslinked S-PEEK, with very low residual degree of sulfonation (13 %), still shows proton conductivity comparable to those of S-PEEKs. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(理学) / 甲第24436号 / 理博第4935号 / 新制||理||1705(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院理学研究科化学専攻 / (主査)教授 北川 宏, 教授 有賀 哲也, 教授 吉村 一良 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Science / Kyoto University / DGAM

No description available.

No description available.

In this dissertation, novel approaches to PEMFC durability research are summarized. These efforts are significantly different from most other studies on durability in that rather than focusing on chemical degradation, more attention is given to the mechanical aspects of the PEMFC system. The tensile stress-strain behavior of Nafion® 117 (N117) and sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) random copolymer (BPSH35) membranes is explored under ambient conditions, with respect to the effects of initial strain rate, counterion type, molecular weight and the presence of inorganic fillers. A three-dimensional "bundle-cluster" model is proposed to interpret the tensile observations, combining the concepts of elongated polymer aggregates, proton conduction channels as well as states of water. The rationale focuses on the polymer bundle rotation/interphase chain readjustment before yielding and polymer aggregates disentanglement/ reorientation after yielding. In addition, the influence of uniaxial loading on proton conductivity of N117 and BPSH35 membranes is investigated. When the membranes are stretched, their proton conductivities in the straining direction increase compared to the unstretched films, and then relax exponentially with time. The behavior is explained on the basis of the morphological variations of hydrophilic channels, accompanied by the rotation, orientation and disentanglement of the copolymer chains in the hydrophobic domains, as illustrated with the help of our bundle-cluster model. Finally, the long-term aging of hydrogen-air PEMFCs is examined with a cyclic current profile and under constant current conditions. The end-of-period diagnosis is performed for both MEAs at 100h aging intervals, including a series of cell polarization, impedance and electrochemical experiments. The results demonstrate that hydrogen crossover is the most significant result of degradation for the MEA under cyclic aging mode due to the formation of pinholes at approximately 500-600h, and mass transport limitations are the major degradation sources for constant current mode. A phenomenological mathematical model is set up to describe the PEMFC aging process under both cyclic and constant conditions. / Ph. D.

This thesis is concerned with the study of morphology and properties of sub-micron thin Nafion® films. The motivation of the work arises from the need to characterize the 4 -10 nm thin ionomer films in the catalyst layer of polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC). A protocol for the fabrication of self-assembled ultra-thin Nafion® films on planar substrates was successfully developed. Films of thickness ranging 4 nm-300 nm, determined by three different techniques - variable angle spectroscopy ellipsometry (VASE), atomic force microscope (AFM) and x-ray photo-electron spectroscopy (XPS), could be reproducibly generated on SiO2/Si wafer. The 4 nm thin film is one of the thinnest, continuous film of Nafion® ever reported. This is the first time that the structure/properties of such thin Nafion® film have been investigated. An interesting finding is the thickness-dependent structure and property of these films. Films with thickness <55 nm exhibited hydrophilic-free surface but thicker films (>55 nm) had hydrophobic surface. Similarly, sub-55 nm films had a lower and thickness-independent protonic conductivity compared to thicker films that exhibited thickness-dependent conductivity. Anomalously high water uptake (by quartz crystal microbalance) and swelling (by ellipsometry) of sub-55nm films indicate that low conductivity is not due to low water content However, differences in surface morphology were observed by the AFM phase contrast analysis. The lack of ionic domain was also observed in the thinner films (4-30 nm) from the grazing incidence small x-ray scattering (GISAXS) experiments. Thermal annealing over a range of temperature (110-160 oC) revealed a dramatic switching of the film surface from hydrophilic to hydrophobic was observed for sub-55 nm films with lower thickness film requiring higher annealing temperature. Bulk proton conductivity was significantly reduced after annealing for all films. An interesting finding was the regeneration of conductivity after to prolonged liquid water exposure and a corresponding switching back of the surface to hydrophilic. The thickness-dependent structure/property of ultra-thin Nafion® films is attributed to substrate induced confinement effect. Self-assembly of Nafion® on various substrates (SiO2, carbon, Pt and Au) was studied. The ionomer/substrate interaction and resulting film morphology followed a trend with respect to substrate surface energies and Nafion® dispersion compositions. / Thesis (Ph.D, Chemical Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2013-09-29 12:36:19.05

L'objet de cette thèse a été l'étude de la structuration et de la fonctionnalisation de matériaux hybrides organiques-inorganiques par le procédé sol-gel.La synthèse et la caractérisation de nouvelles membranes à conduction protonique, pour pile à combustible à membrane échangeuse de protons, ont été réalisées dans la première partie. Des membranes hybrides à base de polyéthylène glycol hautement fonctionnalisées par de l'acide sulfonique ont été synthétisées et caractérisées d'un point de vue physicochimique et conductivité protonique. Elles présentent des bonnes propriétés mécaniques, une stabilité chimique suffisante et une conductivité protonique pertinente pour être utilisées comme électrolyte dans les piles à combustible à membrane échangeuse de proton.Dans une seconde partie, nous avons développé des matériaux hybrides mésoporeux et multifonctionnalisés dans les pores en présence de tensioactif de type copolymère block non-ionique (P123). Deux sondes ont été utilisées pour cette étude: la capacité d'échange protonique et le contrôle de la croissance des nanoparticules d'or dans les pores. / The aim of this work was focused on the structuration and the functionalization of organic-inorganic hybrid materials by the sol-gel process.The synthesis and characterization of new proton conductive membranes for fuel cell proton exchange membrane (PMFC), was prepared in the first part. Hybrid membranes based on polyethylene glycol highly functionalized with sulfonic acid have been synthesized and characterized through a physicochemical and proton conductivity. They have good mechanical properties, a sufficient chemical stability and a performant proton conductivity to be used as an electrolyte in fuel cell proton exchange membrane.In the second part, we have developed hybrid mesoporous materials with porous multifunctionalized in the presence of surfactant nonionic block copolymer (P123). Two probes were used for this study: the proton exchange capacity and the control of the growth of gold nanoparticles in the pores.

Die Arbeit beschreibt die Synthese, Charakterisierung und Anwendung von meso- und mikroporösen Hochleistungspolymeren. Im ersten Teil wird die Synthese von mesoporösen Polybenzimidazol (PBI) auf der Basis einer Templatierungsmethode vorgestellt. Auf der Grundlage kommerzieller Monomere und Silikatnanopartikel sowie eines neuen Vernetzers wurde ein Polymer-Silikat-Hybridmaterial aufgebaut. Das Herauslösen des Silikats mit Ammoniumhydrogendifluorid führt zu mesoporösen Polybenzimidazolen mit spherischen Poren von 9 bis 11 nm Durchmesser. Die Abhängigkeit der beobachteten Porosität vom Massenverhältnis Silikat zu Polymer wurde ebenso untersucht wie die Abhängigkeit der Porosität vom Vernetzergehalt. Die Porosität vollvernetzter Proben zeigt eine lineare Abhängigkeit vom Verhältnis Silikat zu Polymer bis zu einem Grenzwert von 1. Wird der Grenzwert überschritten, ist teilweiser Porenkollaps zu beobachten. Die Abhängigkeit der Porosität vom Vernetzergehalt bei festem Silikatgehalt ist nichtlinear. Oberhalb einer kritischen Vernetzerkonzentration wird eine komplette Replikation der Nanopartikel gefunden. Ist die Vernetzerkonzentration dagegen kleiner als der kritische Wert, so ist der völlige Kollaps einiger Poren bei Stabilität der verbleibenden Poren zu beobachten. Ein komplett unporöses PBI resultiert bei Abwesenheit des Vernetzers. Die mesoporösen PBI-Netzwerke konnten kontrolliert mit Phosphorsäure beladen werden. Die erhaltenen Addukte wurden auf ihre Protonenleitfähigkeit untersucht. Es kann gezeigt werden, dass die Nutzung der vordefinierten Morphologie im Vergleich zu einem unstrukturierten PBI in höheren Leitfähigkeiten resultiert. Durch die vernetzte Struktur war des Weiteren genügend mechanische Stabilität gegeben, um die Addukte reversibel und bei sehr guten Leitfähigkeiten bis zu Temperaturen von 190°C bei 0% relativer Feuchtigkeit zu untersuchen. Dies ist für unstrukturierte Phosphorsäure/PBI - Addukte aus linearem PBI nicht möglich. Im zweiten Teil der Arbeit wird die Synthese intrinsisch mikroporöser Polyamide und Polyimide vorgestellt. Das Konzept intrinsisch mikroporöser Polymere konnte damit auf weitere Polymerklassen ausgeweitet werden. Als zentrales, strukturinduzierendes Motiv wurde 9,9'-Spirobifluoren gewählt. Dieses Molekül ist leicht und vielfältig zu di- bzw. tetrafunktionellen Monomeren modifizierbar. Dabei wurden bestehende Synthesevorschriften modifiziert bzw. neue Vorschriften entwickelt. Ein erster Schwerpunkt innerhalb des Kapitels lag in der Synthese und Charakterisierung von löslichen, intrinsisch mikroporösen, aromatischen Polyamid und Polyimid. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass das Beobachten von Mikroporosität stark von der molekularen Architektur und der Verarbeitung der Polymere abhängig ist. Die Charakterisierung der Porosität erfolgte unter Nutzung von Stickstoffsorption, Kleinwinkelröntgenstreuung und Molecular Modeling. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass die Proben stark vom Umgebungsdruck abhängigen Deformationen unterliegen. Die starke Quellung der Proben während des Sorptionsvorgangs konnte durch Anwendung des "dual sorption" Modells, also dem Auftreten von Porenfüllung und dadurch induzierter Henry-Sorption, erklärt werden. Der zweite Schwerpunkt des Kapitels beschreibt die Synthese und Charakterisierung mikroporöser Polyamid- und Polyimidnetzwerke. Während Polyimidnetzwerke auf Spirobifluorenbasis ausgeprägte Mikroporosität und spezifische Oberflächen von ca. 1100 m²/g aufwiesen, war die Situation für entsprechende Polyamidnetzwerke abweichend. Mittels Stickstoffsorption konnte keine Mikroporosität nachgewiesen werden, jedoch konnte mittels SAXS eine innere Grenzfläche von ca. 300 m²/g nachgewiesen werden. Durch die in dieser Arbeit gezeigten Experimente kann die Grenze zwischen Polymeren mit hohem freien Volumen und mikroporösen Polymeren somit etwas genauer gezogen werden. ausgeprägte Mikroporosität kann nur in extrem steifen Strukturen nachgewiesen werden. Die Kombination der Konzepte "Mesoporosität durch Templatierung" und "Mikroporosität durch strukturierte Monomere" hatte ein hierarchisch strukturiertes Polybenzimidazol zum Ergebnis. Die Präsenz einer Strukturierung im molekularen Maßstab konnte SAXS bewiesen werden. Das so strukturierte Polybenzimidazol zeichnete sich durch eine höhere Protonenleitfähigkeit im Vergleich zu einem rein mesoporösen PBI aus. Der letzte Teil der Arbeit beschäftigte sich mit der Entwicklung einer neuen Synthesemethode zur Herstellung von Polybenzimidazol. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass lineares PBI in einer eutektischen Salzschmelze aus Lithium- und Kaliumchlorid synthetisiert werden kann. Die Umsetzung der spirobifluorenbasierten Monomere zu löslichem oder vernetztem PBI ist in der Salzschmelze möglich. / The first part of the thesis describes the synthesis and characterisation of cross linked, mesoporous poly(benzimidazole) (PBI) prepared by a hard templating approach. Silica nanoparticles were used as template and removed after the polycondensation by immersing the hybrid material in aqueous NH4HF2 solution. The resulting mesoporous PBI showed surface areas up to 200 m²/g as established by N2 BET and porosities up to 37 vol.-%. The influence of the template and cross linker content on the observable porosity was investigated. Nitrogen sorption and small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) were employed as analytical techniques. The template morphology was reproduced almost perfectly, yielding spherical pores of 11 nm in diameter if the samples were fully cross linked. It was shown that there is a linear dependence of the porosity on the template content up to a critical weight ratio of silica/polymer. If the silica content is raised above 50 wt.-% partial collapse of pores is observed. The dependence of the porosity on the cross linker content at constant amount of template was found to be non-linear. At the absence of any cross linker, no porosity was observed after template removal. At 10 mol-% cross linker the onset of porosity could be observed. At higher cross linker contents, the porosity was nearly the same as for the fully cross linked PBI. The mesoporous PBI could be loaded with crystalline phosphoric acid to yield highly proton conductive materials. It was shown that the material retains its nanostructure when loaded with phosphoric acid even after annealing at 180_C for 12 h. The conductivity of the nanostructured samples was one to two orders of magnitude higher than the conductivity of a nonstructured sample. The impact of the cross linking density on the conductivity was also investigated. The second part of the work describes the synthesis and characterisation of microporous poly(amide)s and poly(imide)s. 9,9'-spirobifluorene derivatives were used to introduce a rigid, structure-directing motif which prevents the polymer chains from close packing. Firstly, the synthesis of soluble poly(amide)s and poly(imide) is described. It was observed that the microporosity is strongly dependent on the processing of the soluble polymers. In the case when polymers were precipitated from solvents of high polarity no microporosity was observed, while polymers prone to solvation in solvents of lower polarity exhibited microporosity as observed in nitrogen sorption measurements. Wide angle x-ray scattering (WAXS) showed that the microstructure was indeed dependent on the processing conditions. SAXS measurements of the polymers revealed that nitrogen sorption alone is not sufficient for the analysis of the porosity. A significant mismatch between the results obtained by the two methods indicated that only a fraction of the pore volume of the polymers was accessible for nitrogen molecules. The second part of the chapter describes the synthesis, characterisation and application of spirobifluorene based, cross linked poly(amide)s and poly(imide)s. The poly(amide) networks did not show any microporosity when analysed by nitrogen sorption. This led to the conclusion that the amide bond is too weak to withstand the interfacial forces. In contrast, poly(imide) networks exhibited pronounced microporosity with surface areas of around 1000 m2/g. The analysis of these networks was again done by nitrogen sorption and SAXS. Furthermore, molecular modelling was used to calculate the true and apparent densities of the networks. In case of the poly(imide) networks, the results of the various measurement techniques were in reasonable agreement. This indicates that the pore volume was nearly completely accessible. Finally it was established that the structure directing motif is necessary to obtain microporous polymers, as a poly(imide) prepared from a spatially undefined monomer did not feature microporosity. Pressure dependent SAXS measurements showed that the polymer networks undergo significant elastic deformations upon evacuation. This behavior complicates the analysis of the nitrogen sorption data, making it impossible to extract reliable pore size distributions. The third and last part of the thesis deals with the development of a new reaction medium for the synthesis of poly(benzimidazole). An eutectic salt melt, composed of lithium chloride and potassium chloride was used in an ionothermal synthesis of linear PBI, opening a green chemistry route towards PBI. The influence of the reaction conditions on the properties of the resulting polymers was investigated. The new reaction medium allowed furthermore the synthesis of linear and cross linked spirobifluorene based PBIs. This is not easily possible by using the classical synthetic pathways towards PBI. The spirobifluorene based PBIs synthesized in this work did, however not feature intrinsic microporosity.

Intensive research on development of alternative low cost, high temperature membranes for proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells is going on because of the well-known limitations of industry standard perfluoro-sulfonic acid (PFSA) membranes. To overcome these limitations such as the decrease in performance at high temperatures (&gt / 80 0C) and high cost, non-fluorinated aromatic hydrocarbon based polymers are attractive. The objective of this study is to develop alternative membranes that possess comparable properties with PFSA membranes at a lower cost. For this purpose post-sulfonation studies of commercially available engineering thermoplastics, polyether-ether ketone (PEEK) and polyether-sulfone (PES), were performed by using suitable sulfonating agents and conditions. Post sulfonated polymers were characterized with proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H+-NMR), sulfur elemental analysis and titration to calculate the degree of sulfonation (DS) values and with TGA and DSC for thermal stability and glass transition temperature (Tg). Chemical stabilities were evaluated by hydrogen v peroxide tests. Proton conductivities of sulfonated PEEK (SPEEK) measured by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were observed to increase linearly with degree of sulfonation (DS). However, above a certain DS SPEEK loses its mechanical stability significantly with excessive swelling which leads to deteriorations in mechanical stability. Therefore, DS of 50-70% were used for the fabrication of composite membranes. To improve mechanical stability, SPEEK polymers were blended with more stable polymers, polyether-sulfone (PES) or in its sulfonated form (SPES) or with polybenzimidazole (PBI). In addition, the composite approach, which involves the incorporation of various inorganic fillers such as zeolite beta, TiO2, montmorrilonite (MMT), heteropolyacids (HPA), was used for further improvement of proton conductivity. Among the composite membranes 20% TPA/SPEEK (DS=68) composites conductivity value exceeded that of Nafion&lsquo / s at room temperature. Effects of various parameters during the fabrication process such as the filler type and loading, DS of sulfonated polymer, casting solvents, and thermal and chemical treatment were also investigated and optimized. Various blend/composite membranes were fabricated with solvent casting method, and characterized for their proton conductivity, chemical/thermal stability and for evaluating their voltage/current performance at various temperatures in a single cell setup. Chemically and thermo-hydrolytically stable composite/blend membranes such as 25% tungstophosphoric acid (TPA)/PBI(5%)/SPEEK (DS=68) with good single cell performances at 800C were developed (~450 mA/cm2 at 0.5 V). The performance of the hydrolytically stable composite/blend membrane prepared with SPEEK (DS=59) / 5% PBI / and 10% TiO2 increased appreciably when the temperature was raised from 80 0C to 90 0C while the performance of Nafion decreases sharply after 80 0C. Methanol permeability studies were also performed for investigating the potential of fabricated blend/composite membranes for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) use. Selectivities (conductivity/methanol permeability) vi greater than Nafion 112 (S=7.3x107) for DMFC were observed for composite/blend membranes such as 10% TiO2/10% PES blend with SPEEK (DS=68) with a selectivity of 9.3x107. The factors that affect proton conductivity measurements were investigated and equivalent circuit analysis was performed with results obtained by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The choice of the conductivity cell (electrodes, cell geometry) and the method (2-probe vs 4-probe) were shown to affect the conductivity analysis. A systematic development and characterization route was established and it was shown that by optimizing proton conductivity and thermal/chemical stability with blending/composite approaches it is possible to produce novel high performance proton exchange membranes for fuel cell applications.