8th Liquid Matter Conference September 6-10, 2011 Wien, Austria ...

P4.16Fri 911:10-14:00Structural studies of proton conducting fluorouscopolymers: blocks and graftsBarbara Frisken, 1 Rasoul Narimani, 2 Ami Yang, 2 Emily Tsang, 2 and StevenHoldcroft 21 Simon Fraser University, Department of Physics, Simon Fraser University V7J 2S5,Burnaby, BC, Canada2 Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, CanadaThe leading candidate fuel cell for mobile applications is the proton exchange membrane fuel cell,which relies on a thin polymer membrane that functions as an ionic conductor to conducts protonsfrom the anode to the cathode of the fuel cell. To ensure thermal and chemical stability, thesemembranes are typically made from a polymer containing both hydrophilic and hydrophobic components;the resulting self-assembly of the polymer results in a variety of structure on a wide rangeof length scales. We have studied fluorous-ionic copolymers built on two different architectures -grafts and di-blocks. Graft series consist of different grafting densities and different graft lengths.Di-block series have different block lengths. The degree of sulfonation is controlled in both series.I will present results from x-ray and neutron scattering experiments designed to characterizestructure at micro and nanoscopic length scales, and show relations between microstructure andphysical and chemical properties of these materials.16