P-023

Lasha Khutsishvili

Lasha.Khutsishvili@students.uni-freiburg.de

Marco Viviani, Giorgi Titvinidze, Rusudan Sulaberidze, Dennis Rusitov, Lukas Metzler

Hahn-Schickard and University of Freiburg, Germany

Synthesis and Characterization of Ladder Ionomers via CANAL Polymerization for AEM Fuel Cell and Water Electrolyzer Applications

An Anion Exchange Membrane Water Electolyzer (AEM-WE) can be operated using abundant non-PGM (Platinum Group Metals) catalysts [1]. This represents both an economic and scalability advantage compared to proton exchange membrane (PEM) WE, which strongly rely on precious metals like iridium and platinum [1]. Anion exchange polymers serve as both the solid-electrolyte membrane and the ionomer binder in the electrodes. Although very similar, the requirement of Anion Exchange Ionomers (AEIs) slightly differ from AEM when it comes to gas permeability and film forming properties.

In this study, we present the strategy of using ladder polymers for the synthesis of intrinsically porous AEI for AEM-WE applications. Ladder polymers are synthesized via Catalytic Arene-Norbornene Annulation (CANAL) polymerization and demonstrate high rigidity and gas permeability [2]. Quaternization reaction of amine groups using various reagents is a key step to impart anion conductivity onto the polymer and yield polymer electrolytes

[1]: Santoro, C.; Lavacchi, A.; Mustarelli, P.; Di Noto, V.; Elbaz, L.; Dekel, D. R.; Jaouen, F. ChemSusChem 2022, 15, e202200027.

[2]: Teo, Y. C.; Lai, H. W. H.; Xia, Y. Chem. Eur. J. 2017, 23, 14101.