Polystyrene-Based Superacidic Ionomers: Synthesis and Proton Exchange Membrane Applications

摘要

A highly efficient sulfonation of syndiotactic polystyrene which involves the iridium-mediated C-H borylation and the following Suzuki coupling with bromoaryl sulfonate compound as the two key steps was developed. The synthetic method enables a convenient tuning of both sulfonation degree and pendant acid structure. Three different ionomers, including fluoroalkyl, aryl and alky sulfonic acids, were prepared and the acidity effect on PEM performance was investigated.