Institute of Solid State Physics
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SS22 WS22 SS23 WS23 SS24 WS24 Guidelines for Master Students
Fluorinated Copolymers by Initiated Chemical Vapor Deposition Ion-conductive polymer membranes assume a crucial function in various modern-day technologies, ranging from fuel cell application to drug delivery or water treatment. [1] Nevertheless, a detailed understanding on the actual proton conduction mechanism is still missing and accessible methods for their synthesis pose a serious challenge. Within this work, initiated Chemical Vapor Deposition (iCVD) is utilized to synthesize proton exchange membranes of 1H, 1H, 2H, 2H,-perfluorodecyl acrylate (PFDA) and methacrylic acid (MAA). This solvent-free method allows for conformal coatings of tailored properties on a variety of different substrates by variation of the processing conditions and by monomer precursor selection. [2] Within these films, proton conductivities as high as 55 mS/cm, comparable to the actual benchmark Nafion®, were already achieved. [3] The current research is now directed towards improving thermal and water stability of these membranes, for which in situ studies of the thermal behavior are conducted by X-ray based techniques. Additionally, changes in chemical composition and morphology are monitored by FTIR measurements and atomic force microscopy, respectively. The results show a melting temperature of the crystalline copolymer fraction at 81°C, a decrease of the paracrystalline fraction by thermal annealing as well as the point of thermally induced decomposition. |
