Accelerated simulation of the degradation process of poly(arylene ether ketone)s containing alkylsulfonated side chains used as a proton exchange mmembrane

Abstract

Synthesis of poly(arylene ether ketone)s containing alkylsulfonated side chains (SPAEKs) has continued in recent years because of their numerous advantages when used as proton exchange membranes (PEMs). Although the oxidative stabilities of SPAEKs have been widely characterized in Fenton's reagent, few investigations have reported the oxidative degradation of the membranes, which is critical to the durability of PEMs. In this work, the oxidative degradation of SPAEKs was carefully studied through analysis of the proton conductivity, ¹H NMR and FT-IR spectra, elemental composition, molecular weight (M_w), thermal properties, and morphology in a simulated fuel cell environment. The oxidative degradation was mainly ascribed to the cleavage of the main polymer chain, and the excellent properties of the membrane were maintained before it began to break into pieces.