Laboratory for Ion-selective membranes

Self-organizing fluorinated polymers for the creation of recyclable membranes with optimized proton conductivity

The development of a new class of cost-efficient proton-exchange membranes (PEM) that contain a fluorinated matrix and sulfoacids to ensure the required chemical stability and a elaboration of a mechanism of proton transfer during the simultaneous use of the processes of molecular self-assembly for controlling the topology and the orientation of channels in finite membranes.

The project is aimed at the development of recyclable fluorinated polymers that contain acid groups and are capable of self-organization into 3D structures in a way that ensures more efficient percolation compared to existing commercial ion membranes, such as Nafion TM. It is worth noting that, in contrast with Nafion, the newly developed materials will be suitable for recycling since instead of a crystalline frameworks made of tetrafluoroethylene they will be based on a vinylidene fluoride platform that can be easily depolymerized, for instance, in a basic medium. Apart from copolymers that are derivatives of polyvinylidene fluoride, in this project we will develop and test new brush polymers, including homopolymers and block-copolymers containing proton-exchange side groups and a main polymer chain with controlled stereoregularity. Such molecular architectures will allow for the creation of a new class    cost-efficient proton-exchange membranes based on fluorinated matrices and sulfoacids preserving the necessary chemical stability and a mechanism for proton transport, integrating self-organizing fragments into the structure of the polymer. The implementation of the project will rely on joint efforts of a French and a Russian research group that will be responsible for tasks related to the synthesis of new fluorinated polymers/oligomers, the in-depth morphological study of the developed polymer materials and the physico-mathematical research of finite ion membranes as well as problems of testing of fuel cells based membranes created by the laboratory.

Research directions: Materials technologies