Polymerized Ionic Liquid Multiblock Polymers as Anion Exchange Membranes for Alkaline Fuel Cells
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abstract
Widespread commercialization of low cost, energy efficient, zero-emission automobiles will have a significant impact on society. Increased use of battery powered electric vehicles has reduced smog and decreased gasoline consumption, yet these vehicles remain ill-suited for long distance travel due to lengthy battery recharging times. Fuel cell vehicles also have zero-emissions and decreased fuel consumption, yet require refilling of a fuel tank rather than slow recharging. Replacement of a heavy and bulky battery with a fuel cell decreases the weight and fuel consumption of the vehicle while freeing cargo space. However, commercially available fuel cell designs are cost prohibitive, due in part to high cost platinum catalysts that are necessary to extract electrons from the fuel. Elimination of platinum will significantly reduce cost, and is possible with a solid-state anion exchange membrane, or AEM, fuel cell design. To be commercialized, the chemical and mechanical stability, performance, and processibility of the AEM must be improved. To realize these goals, this project will develop a new platform for molecular design of polymers which impart multiple segments, or "blocks", that impart different functionalities that enable optimization for the AEM fuel cell. The use of triblock terpolymers from polymerized ionic liquids allows simultaneous integration of functionalities that increase stability, ionic conductivity, and processibility. Using this new chemical platform, membrane synthesis will be optimized with the aid of predictive modeling. Resulting membranes will be fully characterized and then incorporated into fuel cells for testing. Fuel cell performance will be correlated to membrane morphology to provide a feedback loop to optimize molecular design. The project will train one graduate student and multiple underrepresented undergraduate students. A new portable fuel cell demonstration module will be built to educate K-12 students
