Synthesis and Characterization of Mono-sulfonated Poly(ether sulfone) for a Fuel Cell Application

고분자 전해질 연료전지용 Sulfonated Poly(ether sulfone)의 합성 및 특성 평가

Sulfonated poly(ether sulfone) copolymers (PESs) were synthesized using hydroquinone 2-potassium sulfonate (HPS) with other monomers (bisphenol A and 4-fluorophenyl sulfone). PESs with different $mole\%$ of hydrophilic group were prepared by changing the mole ratio of HPS in the polymerization reaction. The chemical structure and the thermal stability of these polymers were characterized by using $^1H-NMR$, FT-IR and TGA techniques. The PES 60 membrane, which has $60 mole\%$ of HPS unit in the polymer backbone, has a proton conductivity of 0.091 S/cm and good insolubility in boiling water. The TGA showed that PES 60 was stable up to $272^{\circ}C$ with a char yield of about $29\%\;at\;900^{\circ}C\;under\;N_2$ atmosphere. To investigate the single cell performance, the catalyst coated PES 60 membrane was used and a single cell test was carried out using $H_2/O_2$ gases as fuel and oxidant at various temperatures. We observed that the cell performance was enhanced by increasing the cell temperature. A current density of $1400 mA/cm^2$ at 0.60 V was obtained at $70^{\circ}C$.