Proton conduction properties of crosslinked PTFE electrolyte membranes with different graft-chain structures

Sawada, Shinichi; Yamaki, Tetsuya; Asano, Masaharu; Terai, Takayuki*; Yoshida, Masaru

We synthesized crosslinked-polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) electrolyte membranes by a radiation grafting technique under different conditions, and then investigated their proton conduction properties at controlled temperatures and relative humidities (R.H.) by an AC impedance method. The density and length of graft chains were controlled by varying the pre-irradiation dose and grafting time, respectively. When the pre-irradiation dose was fixed at 15 kGy to make the graft chains an uniform density, the elongation of the graft chain increased the ion exchange capacity (IEC), there by enhancing their proton conductivity. The membrane with an IEC of 2.8 meq/g possessed the maximum conductivity reaching 0.20 S/cm at 80 C and R.H. 95%. At almost the same IEC, membranes with more and shorter graft chains showed higher conductivity than those with less and longer chains. This result was probably related to the different structures of hydrophilic domains as proton-conducting pathways.