%0 Journal Article
%T Composite Electrolyte Membranes from Partially Fluorinated Polymer and Hyperbranched, Sulfonated Polysulfone
%A Surya Subianto
%A Namita Roy Choudhury
%A Naba Dutta
%J Nanomaterials
%D 2014
%I MDPI AG
%R 10.3390/nano4010001
%X Macromolecular modification of poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF) was done with various proportions of sulfonic acid terminated, hyperbranched polysulfone (HPSU) with a view to prepare ion conducting membranes. The PVDF-co-HFP was first chemically modified by dehydrofluorination and chlorosulfonation in order to make the membrane more hydrophilic as well as to introduce unsaturation, which would allow crosslinking of the PVDF-co-HFP matrix to improve the stability of the membrane. The modified samples were characterized for ion exchange capacity, morphology, and performance. The HPSU modified S-PVDF membrane shows good stability and ionic conductivity of 5.1 mS cm £¿ 1 at 80 ¡ãC and 100% RH for blends containing 20% HPSU, which is higher than the literature values for equivalent blend membranes using Nafion. SEM analysis of the blend membranes containing 15% or more HPSU shows the presence of spherical domains with a size range of 300¨C800 nm within the membranes, which are believed to be the HPSU-rich area.
%K membrane
%K fluoropolymer
%K polymer electrolyte
%K hyperbranched polysulfone
%K polymer blends
%U http://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/4/1/1