Poly(ethylene glycol) bis(carboxymethyl) ether

Qiao, Jinli, et al. Electrochemistry communications 9.8 (2007): 1945-1950.

A novel low-cost proton-conducting semi-IPN was successfully prepared from PVA/PAMPS blends by incorporating Poly(ethylene glycol) bis(carboxymethyl) ether (PEGBCME) as a novel plasticizer. Although the polymer is based on a relatively low content of PAMPS as a component of ion-conducting sites, the resulting semi-IPN exhibits high proton conductivity at 25 °C, thereby providing a higher power density of 51 mW cmat at 80 °C. A notable feature is that the fuel cell achieved a stable operation of 130 h in DMFC mode due to the effective suppression of methanol permeation, thus achieving long-term initial performance.
Here, PEGBCME was incorporated into the membrane as a novel plasticizer at a wide ratio ranging from 9% to 33 wt%. The samples of square membrane pieces (3 cm × 3 cm) were then immersed in an acetone reaction solution containing 10 wt% GA (15 wt% glutaraldehyde in water) at 25 °C. Due to the acid-catalyzed reaction of PAMPS, cross-linking occurred between -OH of PVA and -CHO of GA in the membrane. A transparent, flat membrane with a thickness of about 60-70 lm was obtained in the air-dried state.