Excellently conductive fluorinated poly (acenaphthylenyl aryl piperidinium) anion exchange membranes with robust dimensional stability

In this work, the polymerization of hydrophobic pentafluorophenylethyl into the high conductivity poly(acenaphthenyl aryl piperidinium) backbone was catalyzed by an efficient and facile one-pot method with super-strong acids to build enhanced phase separation structures while maintaining low swelling. The prepared QPANTP-20-F15 membrane exhibited the most significant hydrophilic-hydrophobic separation phenomenon, with the conductivity as high as 192.19 mS cm−1 at 80 °C. Due to the incorporation of hydrophobic fluorinated groups, the water uptake of the membrane was limited, and its mechanical (71.0 MPa under hydrated condition) and dimensional stability property (11.32% swelling) showed improved results. In addition, after 1200 h at 80 °C in 3 M/5 M NaOH solution, the structure of the prepared polymer exhibited excellent chemical stability property, with conductivity remaining of 95.04% and 86.38%, respectively. With current density of 706 mA cm−2 at 80 °C, the AEMFCs achieved a peak power density of 321 mW cm−2.