Evaluating the role of additive pKa on the proton conductivities of blended sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) membranes

Wen Li; Brent C Norris; Patrick Snodgrass; Karthik Prasad; Adam S Stockett; Victor Pryamitsyn; Venkat Ganesan; Christopher W Bielawski; Arumguam Manthiram

doi:10.1021/jp904192t

Evaluating the role of additive pKa on the proton conductivities of blended sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) membranes

J Phys Chem B. 2009 Jul 30;113(30):10063-7. doi: 10.1021/jp904192t.

Authors

Wen Li¹, Brent C Norris, Patrick Snodgrass, Karthik Prasad, Adam S Stockett, Victor Pryamitsyn, Venkat Ganesan, Christopher W Bielawski, Arumguam Manthiram

Affiliation

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.

PMID: 19572627
DOI: 10.1021/jp904192t

Abstract

Sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (sPEEK) membranes were blended with various functionalized imidazoles. The effect of the pKa of the added heterocycle on the dry proton conductivities of the blended membranes was evaluated over the temperature range of 40-150 degrees C. These membranes showed nonmonotonous conductivities with respect to temperature, as well as a clear correlation of peak temperature conductivity to the pKa of the heterocycle. We use a theoretical model based on the reaction equilibria between sPEEK's sulfonic acid groups and the basicity of the added heterocycles in order to better understand the mechanistic origins of the observed temperature-conductivity profiles.