Carboxyl-functionalized nanocellulose/sulfonated poly(aryl ether ether ketone ketone) composites for proton exchange membrane by electrospinning

A novel nanocomposite proton-exchange membrane (PEM) was obtained by combined electrospinning and solution casting of a composite solution of sulfophenylated poly(ether ether ketone ketone) (SP-PEEKK) and maleic anhydride modified nanocellulose (MN). SP-PEEKK was prepared by polymerization between phenyl hydroquinone and 1,4-bis(4-fluorobenzoyl)benzene followed by post-sulfonation. Nanocellulose (NCC) was prepared by the acid treatment of MCC with sulfuric acid, and MN with carboxyl group was obtained by modifying NCC with maleic anhydride. PEMs with 2% MN (MN2) showed a water uptake of 28% at 100°C, which was higher than that of MN0 (with 0% MN content). MN2 possessed a high tensile strength of 48.7 MPa, Young’s modulus of 1.3 GPa, and elongation at break of 34%, which was 54%, 21%, and 16% higher than those of MN0, respectively. Thus, the ordered distributed of MN was illustrated to be the effective reinforcing material for SP-PEEKK membranes because of the strong interface between the hydroxyl group of rigid MN and the sulfonic acid group of SP-PEEKK. MN2 also had a substantially higher proton conductivity of 0.09 S cm −1 at 90°C than MN0 (0.037 S cm −1 ). Therefore, combined electrospinning and solution casting was found to be a promising choice to improve the proton conductivity of nanocomposite PEMs, as promoted by the three-dimensional hydrogen bond-proton-transport network formed by the well-oriented MN in SPEEKK produced by the electrospinning.