• Membrane Journal
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.270-276
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• 2011

A nascent membrane was prepared by using the solution evaporation method with a solution of sPEEK, EdAn (cross-linking reagent), and PEA (grafting reagent) in DMAc. Then, after the imination and sulfonation process the cross-linked and grafted ion-exchange membrane, CG-sPEEK, was obtained. The sulfonation and imination reactions were confirmed by FTIR analysis. In order to evaluate the possibility of prepared membrane for the use of an ion-exchange membrane in PEMFC, proton conductivity, water uptake and volume change were measured and compared with a commercial membrane, Nafion 115. It was revealed that since the proton conductivity (0.17 S/cm) of prepared membrane were much higher than those of Nafion 115 (0.10 S/cm) the prepared membrane could be used for the ion-exchange membrane in PEMFC. However, the high water uptake (130%) of CG-sPEEK should be reduced for the dimension stability.