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Ion Exchange Membranes for Energy and Environmental Applications

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2020) | Viewed by 8319

Special Issue Editors

Department of Chemical Engineering, Hanyang University (Erica Campus), Ansan-si 15588, Korea
Interests: fuel cells; anion exchange membrane; polymer nanocomposites; polymer electrolytes; ionic conductivity; electrocatalysis
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Guest Editor
Institute of Polymer Science and Technology (ICTP-CSIC), Juan de la Cierva, 3, Madrid-28006, Spain
Interests: polymer; polymer nanocomposites; structure properties; nanomaterials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Ion-exchange membranes (IEMs) comprised of charged ion groups attached to a polymeric backbone. Dissolved ions are transported across the conductive polymeric membrane. Ion exchange membranes have received much research attention for energy and environmental applications. The IEMs have been used in water processing, management of effluents from mining industry, hydrometallurgy, and paper and pulp industry. Recently, IEMs has been applied in diverse electrochemical technologies such as next generation of fuel cells, electrolyser, metal-air batteries, redox flow batteries, actuators, reverse electrodialysis and carbon capture by electrochemical CO2 pumps. This has led to a steady growth in industrial applications for IEMs over years.

This special issue welcomes articles on different aspects of membrane preparation, membrane characterization, membrane applications, transport characteristics, environmental problems among others.

Dr. Gautam Das
Dr. Suman Thakur
Guest Editors

Keywords

  • ion exchange membranes
  • structure-properties relationship
  • transport characteristics

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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16 pages, 4310 KiB  
Article
Quaternized Chitosan-Based Anion Exchange Membrane Composited with Quaternized Poly(vinylbenzyl chloride)/Polysulfone Blend
by Le Thi Tuyet Nhung, In Yea Kim and Young Soo Yoon
Polymers 2020, 12(11), 2714; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12112714 - 17 Nov 2020
Cited by 28 | Viewed by 4513
Abstract
An efficient and effective process for the production of high-performance anion exchange membranes (AEMs) is necessary for the commercial application of fuel cells. Therefore, in this study, quaternized poly vinylbenzyl chloride (QVBC) and polysulfone were composited with glycidyltrimethylammonium-chloride-quaternized chitosan (QCS) at different ratios [...] Read more.
An efficient and effective process for the production of high-performance anion exchange membranes (AEMs) is necessary for the commercial application of fuel cells. Therefore, in this study, quaternized poly vinylbenzyl chloride (QVBC) and polysulfone were composited with glycidyltrimethylammonium-chloride-quaternized chitosan (QCS) at different ratios (viz., 1 wt %, 5 wt %, and 10 wt %). The structure and morphology of the membranes were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. Further, the water uptake, swelling ratio, and ionic conductivities of the composite membrane at different wt % of QCS were evaluated. The membrane with 5% QCS exhibited an ionic conductivity of 49.6 mS/cm and 130 mS/cm at 25 °C and 70 °C, respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ion Exchange Membranes for Energy and Environmental Applications)
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17 pages, 4468 KiB  
Article
A Composite Anion Conducting Membrane Based on Quaternized Cellulose and Poly(Phenylene Oxide) for Alkaline Fuel Cell Applications
by Dong Ho Kang, Gautam Das, Hyon Hee Yoon and Il Tae Kim
Polymers 2020, 12(11), 2676; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12112676 - 12 Nov 2020
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3313
Abstract
In this study, composite anion exchange membranes (AEMs) were synthesized by cross-linking poly(phenylene oxide) (PPO) with cellulose functionalized by 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]-octane (DABCO) or di-guanidine (DG). The structural and morphological characteristics of the synthesized AEMs were characterized by FTIR, 1H-NMR, SEM, TEM, and AFM, [...] Read more.
In this study, composite anion exchange membranes (AEMs) were synthesized by cross-linking poly(phenylene oxide) (PPO) with cellulose functionalized by 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]-octane (DABCO) or di-guanidine (DG). The structural and morphological characteristics of the synthesized AEMs were characterized by FTIR, 1H-NMR, SEM, TEM, and AFM, while their performance was evaluated in terms of ionic conductivity, water uptake, ion exchange capacity, and tensile strength with respect to the loading of the quaternized cellulose in the quaternized PPO (qPPO) matrix. The composite AEMs exhibited considerably enhanced mechanical and alkaline stability as well as good anion conductivity. The composite AEM with 7 wt% of cellulose functionalized with DG in the qPPO matrix (qPPO/DG-Cel7) exhibited a maximum hydroxide conductivity of 0.164 S cm−1. Furthermore, a urea/O2 fuel cell prepared using this composite membrane showed a maximum power density of 12.3 mW cm−2. The results indicated that the cellulose-based composite membranes showed a satisfactory performance in alkaline fuel cell applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ion Exchange Membranes for Energy and Environmental Applications)
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