Preparation and characterization of a polyvinyl alcohol grafted bis-crown ether anion exchange membrane with high conductivity and strong alkali stability

A new type of symmetrical bis-crown ether is prepared by connecting dibenzo-18-crown-6 ether on both sides of the chromotropic acid, and then grafting the aforementioned biscrown ether onto polyvinyl alcohol matrix to prepare a series of anion exchange membranes (AEMs), which their have high conductivity and strong alkali stability. These synthesized membranes were named B-C-X%-P AEMs (x is the mass percentage of the symmetrical bis-crown ether (B-C)). Then, the chemical structure of aforementioned AEMs were verified by means of H-1 NMR, FT-IR and UV. Meanwhile, the OH- conductivity, alkaline stability and single cell performance of the synthesized membrane were also investigated. The results revealed that the conductivity of B-C-30%-P membrane is the degrees C (235 mS cm(-1)), and the power density is also the highest (197 mW cm(-2)), and the alkali stability of the membrane synthesized in this paper was also improved. The conductivity at 80 degrees C was only reduced by 4%, which was obtained by immersing the B-C-30%-P membrane immersed in 6 mol L-1 KOH solution for 168 h, which the aforementioned results proved that the synthesized membrane in this research had excellent OH- conductivity and alkaline stability. (C) 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.