A Molecular Approach to Control the Morphology and Properties for the Development of Highly Conductive and Stable Anion Exchange Membranes

Anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs) have drawn growing interests in the past decade.The inexpensive non-platinum group metal (non-PGM) catalyst and faster oxygen reduction reactions (ORRs) kinetic at high pH are the potential driving force to develop AEM materials.Despite numerous studies, molecular design rules have not yet been fully elucidated for the development of highly conductive and alkaline stable AEMs. Polymer materials that can produce tunable nanoscale and well-developed micro-phase separated morphology hold great promises as highly conductive and alkaline stable AEMs.Understanding the relationship between the structure and electrical/physicochemical properties of the corresponding AEMs are critical to the rational design and development of AEMs. We report herein a systematic approach to develop highly conductive and alkaline stable anion exchange membranes based on the non-(aryl ether) polymer backbone grafted with the pendant quaternary ammonium as an ion-conducting head group and the alkyl chain as a hydrophobic spacer in different ways. The effects of structure on the properties of the corresponding AEMs such as morphology, ion conductivity, physicochemical properties, and fuel cell properties will be investigated in detail.