High Conductive Anion Exchange Membranes from All-Carbon Twisted Intrinsic Microporous Polymers

This study obtained solution-tractable anion-selective membranes with intrinsic porous and highly ionic conductive capabilities by a convenient route. We used the coplanar structure of 9,9-dimethylxanthene to construct a rigid twisted intrinsic microporous all-carbon skeleton PDI with up to 363.4 m2 g–1 of Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface, and the pore was filled with a quaternary ammonium salt containing long flexible alkyl chains, which produced an efficient means of OH– transport. The conductivity of the resulting polymer (QPDI-100) is reached as high as 205 mS cm–1 at 80 °C. The size stability was determined to be good at high conductance and swelling ratio is less than 15% at 80 °C. QPDI-a exhibited good stability under alkaline conditions, and 90% of the conductivity of QPDI-100 was retained after being immersed in 1 M NaOH solution at 60 °C for 40 days. The power density of H2–O2 fuel cells at 60 °C was 437.7 mW cm–2. The prepared intrinsic porous anion exchange membranes (AEMs) demonstrate potential for the development of anion exchange membrane fuel cells. This membrane design strategy paves the way for a new generation of AEMs for the purposes of electrochemical energy conversion and storage.