Partial sulfonation of PVdF-co-HFP: A preliminary study and characterization for application in direct methanol fuel cell

Highlights: • Synthesis of sulfonated PVdF-co-HFP by reacting with chlorosulfonic acid. • Maximum degree of sulfonation and best properties were obtained for 7 h reaction. • A maximum water uptake value of 20% was obtained. • A maximum IEC value of 0.42 meq g−1 was obtained. • A methanol permeability of 2.44 × 10−7 cm2 s−1 was obtained. - Abstract: Sulfonation of PVdF-co-HFP was conducted by treating the copolymer with chlorosulfonic acid. The efficiency of this sulfonated copolymer towards application as a polymer electrolyte membrane in direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) was evaluated. For this purpose, we determined the thermal stability, water uptake, ion exchange capacity (IEC), methanol crossover, and proton conductivity of the prepared membranes as functions of duration and degree of sulfonation. The characteristic aromatic peaks obtained in the FT-IR spectra confirmed the successful sulfonation of PVdF-co-HFP. The effect of sulfonation on the semi-crystalline nature of pure PVdF-co-HFP was determined from XRD analysis. Water uptake results indicated that a sulfonation time of 7 h produced maximum water uptake value of about 20%, with a corresponding IEC and proton conductivity values of about 0.42 meq g−1 and 0.00375 S cm−1 respectively. The maximum current density was recorded to be 30 mA cm−2 at 0.2 V potential