N-Methylquinuclidinium Based Anion Exchange Membrane with Ultra-High Alkaline Stability.

Anion exchange membrane (AEM) water electrolysis is a promising technology for hydrogen production from renewable energy sources. However, the bottle-neck of its development is the poor comprehensive performance of AEM, especially the stability at high concentrated alkaline condition and temperature. Herein, we propose a new cationic group N-methylquinuclidinium with enhanced alkaline stability and hereby a full-carbon chain poly(aryl quinuclidinium) AEM was prepared. Compared with reported AEMs, it shows ultra-high comprehensive alkaline stability (no chemical decomposition, no decay of conductivity) in 10 M NaOH aqueous solution at 80°C for more than 1800 h, excellent dimensional stability (swelling ratio: < 10% in pure water, < 2% in 10 M NaOH) in OH - form at 80°C, high OH - conductivity (∼139.1 mS/cm at 80°C) and high mechanical properties (tensile strength: 41.5 MPa, elongation at break: 50%). The water electrolyser using our AEM exhibits a high current density (1.94 A/cm 2 at 2.0 V) when assembled with nickel-alloy foam electrodes, and high durability when assembled with nickel foam electrodes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.