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iPEM - High Temperature Polymer Electrolyte Membrane

Brand: Ionomer Solutions
Product Code: 96000100

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Please note that this material has been discontinued.

Polycation-PBI based iPEM Membrane:

iPEM is a high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane that utilizes the synergy between quaternized polysulfone (with benzyl pyridinium cation) and PBI in the form of a blend membrane with excellent proton conductivity across a wide temperature range (-20 deg Celsius to 250 deg Celsius), which makes this novel and advanced proton exchange membrane ideal for high temperature electrochemical devices such as fuel cells (HT-PEMFC) and hydrogen pumps and numerous other applications.  This membrane is also known as polycation-polybenzimidazole (polycation-PBI) membrane in the market.  Polymer composition for this polycation-PBI membrane product is given on the right side.

Polycation-PBI membranes provide excellent acid retention feature due to strong ion-pair interactions between the quaternized polymer component (in this case polysulfone) and PBI, high in-plane and through-plane proton conductivity, excellent thermal stability, and resiliency to water vapor during the operation of the electrochemical devices.  The electrostatic interaction between the quaternary benzyl pyridinium cations tethered to the polysulfone and phosphate anions of the phosphoric acid is ~8X stronger compared to acid-base interaction between benzimidazole-phosphoric acid systems.  It is this stronger interaction between quaternary benzyl pyridinium cations tethered to the polysulfone and phosphate anions (of the phosphoric acid) that drastically minimizes the acid leaching under high humidity conditions or low temperature startup conditions, and hence enables significantly much longer operational lifetime compared to the conventional acid doped PBI membrane systems. 

iPEM Features:
-Thickness: 60 microns +/- 15 microns
-Sizes offered currently: 10cm x 10cm, 15cm x 15cm
-Proton conductivity: >100 mS/cm at 150 deg Celsius
-Membrane type: Proton conductor
-Membrane color: Cloudy/Orange
-Applications: High-Temperature PEM Fuel Cell (HT-PEMFC) and high temperature hydrogen pumps

 

Electrochemical Performance of iPEM Membrane in Various Electrochemical Setups:

iPEM membrane's fuel cell related IV curves (also known as polarization curves or IE curves) for H2/O2, H2/Air, and H2-CO/O2 reactants are given below, on the left side (courtesy of Gokul Venugopalan et al.).  Hydrogen pump related performance curve with syngas is given below, on the right side (courtesy of Gokul Venugopalan et al.).

Scientific Literature Related to This Product:

An article by Gokul Venugopalan et al. entitled "Stable and highly conductive polycation-polybenzimidazole membrane blends for intermediate temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells" that discusses phosphoric acid uptake, per base moiety, ion exchange capacity, mechanical properties, thermal stability, and electrochemical performance in a high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell environment (with H2/O2, H2/Air, and reformate/O2 reactants), IV curves of up to 2.5 A/cm2 current densities, longevity test with pure H2 and reformate streams at current densities of 1 A/cm2 to 1.5A/cm2 range, and other characterization results.

An article by Ardalan Chaichi et al. entitled "A solid-state and flexible supercapacitor that operates across a wide temperature range" that invesigates the use of polycation-PBI blend membrane specifically for supercapacitors within a wide temperature range (from -25 deg C to 220 deg C) with an ionic conductivity of 50 mS/cm to 278 mS/cm (dependent on the temperature) and demonstration of power densities in the range of 90 to 125 mW/cm2 with reduced graphene oxide electrodes.

An article by Gokul Venugopalan et al. entitled "Electrochemical pumping for challenging hydrogen separations" that invesigates the use of polycation-PBI blend membrane specifically for hydrogen separation/purification from a fuel/reformate stream with other species such as CO, CO2, CH4, N2 and achieving high purity and high recovery rates for H2. 

Manufacturer Provided Technical Documentation Related to This Product:
Membrane Properties
Membrane Polycation-PBI blend (polysulfone with quaternary benzyl pyridinium functional group and polybenzimidazole in the form of a blend membrane)
Thickness 60 µm (microns) +/- 15 µm (microns)
Appearance / Color Cloudy / Orange
Conductivity (mS/cm) >100 mS/cm at 150 deg C after its activation with phosphoric acid

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