Proton conductive membranes based on doped sulfonated polytriazole

Abstract This work reports the preparation and characterization of proton conducting sulfonated polytriazole membranes doped with three different agents: 1H-benzimidazole-2-sulfonic acid, benzimidazole and phosphoric acid. The modified membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), infrared spectra, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), dynamical mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The addition of doping agents resulted in a decrease of the glass transition temperature. For membranes doped with 85 wt.% phosphoric acid solution proton conductivity increased up to 2·10 −3  S cm −1 at 120 °C and at 5% relative humidity. The performance of the phosphoric acid doped membranes was evaluated in a fuel cell set-up at 120 °C and 2.5% relative humidity.