• Proceedings of the Polymer Society of Korea Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.269-269
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• 2006

The molecular structure of poly(2,6-dimethyl-4,4' -phenylene oxide)-g-poly (styrenesulfonic acid) (PPO-g-PSSA) graft copolymer was designed, and synthesized via living radical polymerization. Obtained graft copolymers were transformed into proton exchange membranes for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) application. The performance of the membranes was measured in terms of water uptake, proton conductivity, methanol permeability, and thermal stability. Very low methanol permeability and good proton conductivity were observed by adjusting grafting frequency and PSSA block content.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.101-113
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• 2016

In this study, to improve the water flux of porous hydrophobic membranes, various water-soluble polymers including neutral, cationic and anionic polymers were adsorbed using 'salting-out' method. The adsorbed hydrophobic membrane surfaces were characterized mainly via the measurements of contact angles and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. To enhance the durability of the modified membranes, the water-soluble polymers such poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) were crosslinked with glutaraldehyde (GA) and found to be resistant for more than 2 months in vigorously stirred water. The water flux was much more increased when the ionic polymers used as the coating materials rather than the neutral polymer and in this case, about 70% of $0.31L/m^2{\cdot}h$ (LMH) to 0.50 LMH was increased when 300 mg/L of polyacrylamide (PAAm) was used as the coating agents. Among the cationic coating polymers such as poly(styrene sulfonic acid-co-maleic acid) (PSSA_MA), poly(acrylic acid-comaleic acid) (PAM) and poly(acrylic acid) (PAA), PSSA_MA was found to be the best in terms of contact angle and water flux. In the case of PSSA_MA, the water flux was enhanced about 80%. The low concentration of the coating solution was better to hydrophilize while the high concentration inclined to block the pores on the membrane surfaces. The best coating condition was found: (1) coating concentration 150 to 300 mg/L, (2) ionic strength 0.15, (3) coating time 20 min.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.336-344
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• 2008

This manuscript deals with the investigation of the possibility of the crosslinked poly(vinyl alcohol) membranes with both poly(styrene sulfonic acid-co-maleic acid) and 3-(trihydroxysilyl)-1-propanesulfonic acid (THS-PSA) for the fuel cell application. The studies were focused on the characterization of the resulting membranes through water content, thermal gravimetric analysis, ion exchange capacity, ion conductivity and methanol permeability measurements and then compared with the existing Nafion membrane. Typically, the ion conductivity lied in the range of $10^{-3}$ to $10^{-2}\;S/cm$ while the methanol permeability showed the range of $10^{-6}$ to $10^{-8}\;cm^2/s$.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.299-305
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• 2011

This study deals with the preparation of polymeric electrolyte membranes having high durability for the application of fuel cells. The membranes under investigation were prepared the impregnation to porous polyethylene membranes with poly(vinyl alcohol)(PVA), poly(styrene sulfonic acid-co-maleic acid), and (PSSA-MA)3-(trihydroxysilyl)-1-propanesulfonic acid (THS-PSA). To characterize the resulting membranes, the water contents, the contact angles, FT-IR, the proton conductivity and the the modulus were measured. The proton conductivity of 30% content of THS-PSA at $55^{\circ}C$ gave excellent $1.27{\times}10^{-1}S/cm$ and the mechanical strength was improved 7 times higher up to the THS-PSA content 15%, as a result, the durability was elevated extensively.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.304-310
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• 2002

In a recent study by the same authors using a DMTA (Dynamic Mechanical Thermal Analyzer), it was found that the 4-aminobenzoic arid (ABA) molecules acted as either a neutralizing agent, or a plasticizer, or a filler, depending on the order of mixing of poly(styrene-co-styrenesulfonic acid) (PSSA), ABA, and NaOH. Subsequent to that study, we here pursued the same topic, i.e., the effect of the addition of CsOH (instead of NaOH) and ABA on the morphology of PSSA, but this time, by using a small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) technique. In line with the previous results, the present study with the SAXS technique verified that the order of mixing has a significant effect on the morphology of ionomers. In addition, with the SAXS data and the density values of the ionomers, we attempted to calculate both the number of sulfonate ionic groups per multiplet and the size of the multiplet of the ionomer.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.169-172
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• 2010

Silver ions of poly(vinyl chloride)-g-poly(styrene sulfonic acid) (PVC-g-PSSA) graft copolymer were reduced to form silver nanoparticles under thermal condition ($80^{\circ}C$). We were successful in synthesizing silver nanoparticles with various morphologies by changing reaction time. At short reaction times (~1 h), silver nanoparticles with 5 nm in size were formed without disrupting a microphase-separated structure of graft copolymer. At medium reaction times (~5 h), silver nanoparticles were aggregated to form large clusters ranging 30~50 nm in size. At much longer reaction times (~18 h), hurricane-like silver clusters were observed due to strong particle aggregation.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.561-568
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• 1995

Two methods, precipitation and ultrafiltration, were applied in order to recover platinum group metals(PGM) by complexing them with water-soluble polyelectrolytes, e.g., polyethyleneimine [PEl], poly(2-vinylpyridine) [2-PVP], poly (4-vinylpyridine) [4-PVP], and poly (styrene sulfonic acid) [PSSA]. In the precipitation method, the PGM-polyelectrolyte complex that was formed by mixing first with polybase, e.g.,4-PVP at pH 1 was precipitated by further mixing with polyacid, e.g., PSSA. However, the recovery of PGM obtained by this method was not quantitative(less than 70%). The "sandwiching" binding between the metal anions and two polyelectrolytes was examined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS). The XPS studies indicated that the PGM atom was bound with the acdic and basic polyelectrolyte via its oxygen and nitrogen atom, respectively. The recovery of PGM using polyelectrolyte was further studied by ultrafiltration methods as follows : The PGM ions, eomplexed at pH 1 with polyelectrolyte, allowed the applicntion of membrane filtration by virtue of the great differences in molecular weights between PGM and other low molecular weight species. By applying this method, Pd and Pt (ca. $10^{-4}M$) were selectively separated almost quantitatively from coexisting metal ions, e.g., $Cu^{2+}$ and $Ni^{2+}$. The EPR spectra and viscosity measurements indicated that these polyelectrlytes were not bound to $Cu^{2+}$ and $Ni^{2+}$ ions at this pH, which provided the basis for selective separation of PGM(Pd, Pt and Rh) from these coexisting ions.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.549-554
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• 2008

Proton conducting crosslinked membranes were prepared using polymer blends of polystyrene-b-poly(hydroxyethyl acrylate)-b-poly(styrene sulfonic acid) (PS-b-PHEA-b-PSSA) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). PS-b-PHEA-b-PSSA triblock copolymer at 28:21:51 wt% was synthesized sequentially using atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). FT-IR spectroscopy showed that after thermal ($120^{\circ}C$, 2 h) and chemical (sulfosuccinic acid, SA) treatments of the membranes, the middle PHEA block of the triblock copolymer was crosslinked with PVA through an esterification reaction between the -OH group of the membrane and the -COOH group of SA. The ion exchange capacity (IEC) decreased from 1.56 to 0.61 meq/g with increasing amount of PVA. Therefore, the proton conductivity at room temperature decreased from 0.044 to 0.018 S/cm. However, the introduction of PVA resulted in a decrease in water uptake from 87.0 to 44.3%, providing good mechanical properties applicable to the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) of fuel cells. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that the membrane was microphase-separated with a nanometer range with good connectivity of the $SO_3H$ ionic aggregates. The power density of a single $H_2/O_2$ fuel cell system using the membrane with 50 wt% PVA was $230\;mW/cm^2$ at $70^{\circ}C$ with a relative humidity of 100%. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) also showed a decrease in the thermal stability of the membranes with increasing PVA concentration.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.29-32
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• 2004

Reduction of methanol crossover in proton exchange membranes (PEMs) can be achieved by 1) the selection of materials, 2) the morphology control, and 3) the adequate crosslinking [1, 2]. The selection of polymer matrix of PEM for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) is very important because the proton conductivity and methanol permeability are largely dependent upon the properties of polymers.(omitted)

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.61-67
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• 2013

In this study, we developed ionic permselective membrane as a core material of redox flow battery using radiation grafting method. Two ionic permselective membranes, ETFE-g-PSSA and ETFE-g-PVBSA were prepared by radiation grafting with styrene and VBC followed by sulfonation, respectively. We confirmed that the prepared membranes were successfully prepared via FT-IR. The prepared ionic permselcetive membranes were characterized and the performance of the membranes were evaluated as ionic permselective membranes for vanadium redox flow battery.