Reinforced poly(fluorenyl-co-terphenyl piperidinium) anion exchange membranes for fuel cells

Mechanically tough and durable anion exchange membranes (AEMs) are vital materials for AEM fuel cells (AEMFCs). Here, we report a series of high-performance high density polyethylene (PE)-reinforced in-house AEMs based on poly(fluorenyl-co-terphenyl piperidinium) ([email protected]) using EtOH as an assistant co-solvent. We found that EtOH showed low contact angle and interface tension on the PE substrate, which improved the penetration efficiency of polymer solutions in the PE substrate. Specifically, 15% EtOH-assisted [email protected] membranes displayed ∼100% visible light transmittance and outstanding tensile strength greater than 120 MPa (along with ∼50% elongation at break) compared to [email protected] without EtOH assistance (51% light transmittance and 80 MPa tensile strength). Moreover, the peak power densities of [email protected] AEMFCs reach 1.7 W cm−2 in H2–O2 and 1.08 W cm−2 in H2-air(CO2 free) at 80 °C. The present work provides a facile and scalable method to fabricate high-performance reinforced AEMs.