A semi-flexible polybenzimidazole with enhanced comprehensive performance for high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Although phosphoric acid-doped PBI holds great promise for application in high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells, the stabilities of phosphoric acid-doped membranes are compromised due to the low absorption capacity of phosphoric acid, poor solubility and difficulty in processing. In this study, by introducing poly (5-phenyl-1H-1,2,3-triazole) monomers into the polybenzimidazole main chains, a semi-flexible polybenzimidazole (PBI-QP) was prepared. The mechanical properties of PBI-QP membranes were better than that of PBI membrane. The tensile strength of PBI-QP-20 reached to 130.9 MPa. Compared with PBI, the solubility of PBI-QP has improved significantly. PBI-QP can be easily dissolved in the solvents of DMF, DMSO and formic acid separately at room temperature. All the membranes exhibited super thermal stability. At 800 °C there is still 72% quantity of residue and the thermal stability of PBI-QP can meet the thermal stability requirements of HT-PEMFCs. The membranes of PBI-QP demonstrated high phosphoric acid absorption (ADL 10.5) and enhanced antioxidant properties. The proton conductivity is 64.3 mS∙cm⁻¹ at 170 °C and the peak power density attains an impressive level of 573.6 mW cm⁻² at 180 °C. The results indicate that the synthesized HT-PEMs exhibit excellent solubility and impressive peak power density, underscoring their substantial promise for utilization in HT-PEMs.