Proton-conducting polymer membrane based on sulfonated polystyrene microspheres and an amphiphilic polymer blend

Abstract

A new type of amphiphilic polymer blend comprising polystyrene (PS), polyethylene oxide (PEO) and microspheres of crosslinked polystyrene sulfonic acid (PSSA) was prepared by solution blending and followed by casting. Besides providing protons, PSSA plays a role in enhancing the miscibility of polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene oxide (PEO) according to the IR and the DSC studies. The resulting polymer blend is a proton electrolyte. The influence of the mixing extent between PS and PEO on the proton conductivity has been studied. It is also found that for those samples in which PEO and PS mix well, the hydrophobic PS component can effectively prevent water evaporation from the hydrophilic components at elevated temperatures, and therefore preserve the proton conductivity (10-4 S/cm) at the temperature as high as 80 °C.