Sulfonated poly(phenylene sulfide sulfone nitrile) and membrane for fuel cell thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9293780-B2
Application number	US-201213661481-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 26, 2012
Priority date	Apr 10, 2012
Publication date	Mar 22, 2016
Grant date	Mar 22, 2016

Abstract

The present invention provides sulfonated poly(phenylene sulfide sulfone nitrile) and a polymer electrolyte membrane thereof. In particular, the present invention provides sulfonated poly(phenylene sulfide sulfone nitrile) having a triple bond at its both ends and a polymer electrolyte membrane with superior mechanical properties prepared by heating sulfonated poly(phenylene sulfide sulfone nitrile) and forming cross-links between ends of sulfonated poly(phenylene sulfide sulfone nitrile).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A polymer electrolyte membrane comprising sulfonated poly(phenylene sulfide sulfone nitriles) with their ends cross-linked to each other, wherein the sulfonated poly(phenylene sulfide sulfone nitrile) represented by one of the following Formulae 1 to 5:

wherein n represents the number of a sulfone-containing monomer in the sulfonated poly(phenylene sulfide sulfone nitrile).

2. A method of preparing sulfonated poly(phenylene sulfide sulfone nitrile) represented by one of the following Formulae 1 to 5, comprising:
synthesizing an A-B random polymer having a thiol group by polymerizing a hydrophilic repeat unit (A) composed of 4,4′-thiobisbenzenethiol and 3,3′-disulfonated-4,4′-dichlorodiphenyl sulfone and a hydrophobic repeat unit (B) composed of 4,4′-thiobisbenzenethiol and 2,6-dichlorobenzonitril;
synthesizing a C-A-B-C polymer by linking decafluorobiphenyl (C) to each of the (A) and (B) ends of the A-B polymer; and
forming a random polymer having a D-C-A-B-C-D structure by cross-linking (D) having a triple bond as an end group for with both ends (C) of the C-A-B-C polymer, wherein (D) is selected from the group consisting of ethynylphenol, propagyl alcohol, 3-butynol, 4-pentynol and 5-hexynol:

wherein n represents the number of a sulfone-containing monomer in the sulfonated poly(phenylene sulfide sulfone nitrile).

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the random polymer is prepared by polycondensation of the hydrophilic repeat unit (A) and hydrophobic repeat unit (B) at a temperature of 160° C. or higher; the coupling between the A-B polymer and (C) is carried out at a temperature of 80 to 120° C. or lower; and the formation of the D-C-A-B-C-D polymer is conducted by adding (D) to a solution of the C-A-B-C polymer followed by a reaction at a temperature of 80 to 120° C. or lower.

4. A polymer electrolyte membrane comprising the sulfonated poly(phenylene sulfide sulfone nitriles) according to claim 1 with their ends cross-linked to each other.

5. A polymer electrolyte membrane comprising the polymer electrolyte membrane according to claim 4 , wherein said polymer electrolyte membrane has a thickness of 10 to 150 μm.

6. A membrane-electrode assembly for fuel cells, comprising
an anode and a cathode that are oppositely arranged; and
the polymer electrolyte membrane according to claim 5 , wherein said polymer electrolyte membrane is located between the anode and cathode.

7. A fuel cell system, comprising
one or more of the membrane-electrode assembly according to claim 6 and a separator,
an electric generator that generates electricity through an electrochemical reaction between a fuel and an oxidant;
a fuel supplier that supplies a fuel to the electric generator; and
an oxidant supplier that supplies an oxidant to the electric generator.

8. A method of preparing a polymer electrolyte membrane, comprising
heating the sulfonated poly(phenylene sulfide sulfone nitriles) according to claim 1 to a temperature of 220 to 280° C. and forming cross-links between their ends, thereby preparing a polymer electrolyte membrane.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Iucf Hyu

Inventors

• Lee Young Moo
• Lee So Young
• Shin Dong Won
• Kang Na Rae
• Kim Young Taek
• Hwang Inchul
• Kwon Nak Hyun

Classifications

• Y02E60/522

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• H01M8/1039 Primary

  halogenated, e.g. sulfonated polyvinylidene fluorides · CPC title

• Y02P70/56

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• H01M8/1072

  by chemical reactions, e.g. in situ polymerisation or in situ crosslinking · CPC title

• H01M8/1027

  having carbon, oxygen and other atoms, e.g. sulfonated polyethersulfones [S-PES] · CPC title