The state-of-the-art of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) technology is based on perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) polymer membranes operating at a typical temperature of 80 °C. Some of the key issues and shortcomings of the PFSA-based PEMFC technology are briefly discussed. These include water management, CO poisoning, hydrogen, reformate and methanol as fuels, cooling, and heat recov...

Acid-catalyzed condensation of levulinic acid and phenol into high yields of diphenolic acid (>50%) is possible with a combination of sulfonated hyperbranched polymers and thiol promotors, either added as a physical mixture or bound to the polymer by ion-pairing.

A new polymer acid catalyst, sulfonated hyperbranched poly(arylene oxindole), 5-OH-SHPAO, was prepared for selective cellulose hydrolysis. Its superior catalysis, showing high glucose selectivity at almost full cellulose conversion, is attributed to the presence of an hydroxyl group next to the sulfonic acid, therefore mimicking the separate acid-base pair in the cellulase active site.

A series of new sulfonated poly(arylene ether)s containing one sulfonic acid group, located on a pendant phenyl sulfonyl moiety, at every repeat unit was synthesized using 3-sulfonated-3’, 5’-difluorophenyl Sulfone, 4, and a variety of bisphenols. A conventional nucleophilic aromatic substitution (NAS) was utilized for the homopolymerization and copolymerization reactions. Polymerization reacti...

Due to the importance of nanoparticles stability in industrial applications, in this research, stability of laponite nanoparticles dispersions containing different concentrations of sodium sulfonated polyacrylamide (SPA) was investigated in electrolyte media for oil reservoirs applications. In this regard, effect of parameters such as polymer concentration, temperature, and ionic strength were ...

Sulfonated carbon nanotubes (S-CNTs) and sulfonated graphene (S-Gra) with superior dispersibility were successfully prepared to modify poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) for applications in polymer solar cells (PSCs). The synergetic effect between S-CNTs/S-Gra and PEDOT:PSS could remove excess insulating PSS chains leading to an obvious phase separation between ...

This paper reports the synthesis and characterizations of a new water-soluble pol &JrB phenylene) (PPP) and its applications in preparing self-assembled multi-layer films. This new water-soluble conducting polymer was prepared through the sulfonation reaction of poly(pquarterphenylene-2,2’-dicarboxylic acid). The incorporation of sulfonate groups has dramatically improved PPP’s solubility in wa...

Sulfonated polyelectrolyte membranes (PEMs), such as Nafion and styrene-olefin block copolymers, are explored as permselective membranes for fuel cells as well as suitable barrier materials against chemical agents. The permselective properties of PEM are determined by their microphase segregation into hydrophilic and hydrophobic domains. We performed classical molecular dynamics simulations of ...

Among fuel cell technologies, polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have gained momentum at a strong pace in small to medium scale energy generation (e.g., mobile applications, transportation, etc). Historically, the development of polymer electrolytes has gone through several stages: from ionic polymers of poly(ethylene oxide)-salt complexes, polystyrene sulfonate polymers, to perfl...

Boric acid-pyridine mixture is presented as mild catalyst for polycondensation of semi-esters of ethylene glycol, in situ-generated by “cyclic anhydrideediol” reaction scheme from maleic, succinic and phthalic anhydrides. This catalyst system was demonstrated to give colorless polyesters in low molecular weights (Mn: 1650e1950 Da) within 4 h at 130 C 1H NMR spectra of the polyesters derived fro...