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Received December 6, 2023
Accepted April 26, 2024
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This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync/3.0) which permits
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Preparation of Sulfonated Cross-Linked Films for Proton Exchange Membranes (PEMs) Through a Curing Process
Abstract
Raw-poly( n -butyl acrylate (BA)-sodium styrene sulfonate (SS)-neopentyl glycol diacrylate (NPGDA)) (raw-PBSN) fi lms
were prepared through a curing process from various BA/SS/NPGDA mixtures (BSN mixture). Sulfonation of the raw-PBSN
fi lms was performed via a pretreatment process. As a result, light-brown sulfonated PBSN (SPBSN) fi lms with a thickness
of 80 ~ 95 μm were obtained. The ion exchange capacity (IEC), proton conductivity (PC), swelling ratio (SR), and water
uptake (WU) of these specimens were improved with an increase in the content of SS within the SPBSN matrix. The SPBSN
25 wt%, SPBSN 30 wt% and SPBSN 35 wt% fi lms containing corresponding SS contents of 25 wt%, 30 wt% and 35 wt%,
which are much higher IEC values compared to that of Nafi on ® 117. Specifi cally, the PC value of the SPBSN 35 wt% fi lm
was approximately 0.211 S/cm, nearly 22.6% higher than that of Nafi on ® 117 (0.172 S/cm) at a temperature of 80 °C and
relative humidity (RH) of 100%. A fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis was conducted to verify the
sulfonation of the raw-PBSN fi lms. A transmission electron microscope (TEM) analysis served to investigate the hydrophilic
domain images of the SPBSN fi lms.
