Hydrophobic Thiophene Unit Modification for the Construction of Novel Anion Exchange Membranes for High-Speed Transport of Ion Channels

In this work, the “one-pot method” involving green and efficient ultrastrong acid catalysis was used to polymerize a series of anion exchange membranes (AEMs) without aryl ether bonds, which required no complex postprocessing steps and was in line with the goal of sustainable research, as the method had low cost and clean synthesis. Moreover, by doping hydrophobic thiophene groups and hydrophilic piperidinium cationic groups into the AEMs to create high-speed ionic channels while inhibiting swelling, we provide the solution to the “trade-off” problem between conductivity and dimensional stability. Multiple morphological analyses confirmed that the interconnected ion transport channels created by this structure accelerated OH– ion transport in AEMs up to 152.57 mS cm–1 at 80 °C. At the same time, the synthesized membrane showed optimum dimensional stability (WU of 56.89% and SR of 18.87%). In addition, the membrane had excellent chemical stability, maintaining a 90.78% conductivity retention (80 °C) after immersion in a 3 M NaOH solution for 1000 h. In the final single-cell test (80 °C), the QPTPSF-15 membrane with the best overall performance achieved a peak power density of 536 mW cm–2. This green strategy for the preparation of high-performance membranes addresses the limitations in the synthesis of current AEMs and provides a sustainable approach to the design and development of fuel cells.