Preparation of sulfonated poly(arylene ether ketone sulfone) PEMs with enhanced proton conductivity by introducing ionic liquid impregnated MOFs

In this research, sulfonated poly(arylene ether ketone sulfone) containing -COOH groups (C-SPAEKS) was chosen as the substrate, and ionic liquid functionalized MOFs (UiO-66-AS@ILs) were selected as fillers to prepare C-S-U-AS@ILs hybrid membranes (The term "C-S-U-AS@ILs" signifies C-SPAEKS with an incorporated ionic liquid functionalized UiO-66-AS@ILs). The UiO-66-AS@ILs and C-S-U-AS@ILs hybrid membranes were characterized by 1H NMR, FT-IR, PXRD and SEM. The prepared membranes exhibited suitable water uptake and swelling ratios, and the C-S-U-AS@ILs-5 % hybrid membrane possessed superior proton conductivity (0.197 S cm−1 at 90 °C) was much higher than C-SPAEKS (0.156 S cm−1 at 90 °C) and Nafion 117 (0.110 S cm−1 at 90 °C). Moreover, the C-S-U-AS@ILs-5 % hybrid membranes' power density up to 474.24 mW cm−2, significantly higher than that of C-SPAEKS (220.88 mW cm−2) under the same conditions. These results reflect that the hybrid membranes exhibited superior properties and fit the standards of proton exchange membranes.