Electronic Supplementary Material (ESI) for Energy & Environmental Science. This journal is The Royal Society of Chemistry 208 Electronic Supplementary Information (ESI) Benefits of rotatable spacer to an alkaline anion exchange membrane for fuel cell application Yuan Zhu a, Liang Ding a, Xian Liang a, Muhammad A. Shehzad a, Lianqin Wang b, Xiaolin Ge a, Yubin He a, Liang Wu a, *, John R. Varcoe b and Tongwen Xu a, * a CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, Collaborative Innovation Centre of Chemistry for Energy Materials, School of Chemistry and Material Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, P.R. China. b Department of Chemistry, The University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, United Kingdom. *Corresponding author: liangwu8@ustc.edu.cn (L. Wu); twxu@ustc.edu.cn (T.W. Xu) Contents. H NMR spectra. 2. Images of molecular models in simulation. 3. The in-situ FTIR spectroscopy of free water in AEMs. 4. The mechanical properties and ion exchange capacity (IEC) of AEMs. 5. The thermal stability of AEMs. 6. Alkaline stability of AEMs. 7. Summary of fuel cell performances of recently reported AEMs. 8. References for supplementary information. S
. H NMR spectra Fig. S H NMR spectra (400 MHz, 298K) of BPPO employing CDCl 3 as deuterated solvent. Fig. S2 H NMR spectra (400 MHz, 298K) of BIm employing CDCl 3 as deuterated solvent. S2
Fig. S3 H NMR spectra (400 MHz, 298K) of OBIm employing CDCl 3 as deuterated solvent. Fig. S4 H NMR spectra (400 MHz, 298K) of BIm-Me employing DMSO-d 6 as deuterated solvent. S3
Fig. S5 H NMR spectra (400 MHz, 298K) of OBIm-Me employing DMSO-d 6 as deuterated solvent. Fig. S6 H NMR spectra (400 MHz, 298K) of BImPPO employing CD 3 OD as deuterated solvent. S4
Fig. S7 H NMR spectra (400 MHz, 298K) of OBImPPO employing CD 3 OD as deuterated solvent. 2. Images of molecular models in simulation Fig. S8 Polymer chain of a) BImPPO and b) OBImPPO containing 0 monomers each. The images of cubic simulation boxes of c) BImPPO and d) OBImPPO containing 32 polymer chains each during probability density distribution statistics. S5
Fig. S9 Side chain molecular models in binding energy calculation process. Fig. S0 The time-dependent in-situ FTIR spectroscopy of free water in hydrated OBImPPO (IEC = 2. mmol g -, immobilized between two CaF 2 optical plates) recorded during heating at 65 o C (heating rate = 9 o C min - ). 3. The in-situ FTIR spectroscopy of free water in AEMs S6
4. The mechanical properties and IEC of obtained membranes Table S The mechanical properties and IEC of membranes. Membranes Tensile strength (MPa) Elongation at break (%) Young s modulus (MPa) Wet Dry Wet Dry Wet Dry IEC a (mmol g - ) IEC b (mmol g - ) BImPPO-.0 7.3 30.8 2.0 7.5 98.7 45.4.0.06 BImPPO-.4 5.2 26. 57.7 5.4 2.7 46.7.39.43 BImPPO-.6 2.5 22.3 77.7 9.2 9.7 39.8.58.60 BImPPO-2. 5.8 2.4 04.8 38.0 5.5 32.6 2.2 2.03 OBImPPO-.0 3.4 23.9 4.3 9.6 78.8 23.7.00.03 OBImPPO-.4 0.2 5.7 7.7 42.4 4.3 29.3.44.40 OBImPPO-.6 9.2 4.7 73.6 53.4 2.5 24.6.58.60 OBImPPO-2. 5.8 3.4 7.9 98.3 3.4 6.8 2.03 2.0 a IEC was calculated by elemental analysis. b IEC was calculated by titration experiments 5. The thermal stability of AEMs Fig. S Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) curves of a) OBImPPO-2. and b) BImPPO-2.. S7
6. Alkaline stability of AEMs Fig. S2 The room temperature a) hydroxide conductivity, b) IEC, c) water uptake and d) swelling ratio of OBImPPO-2. and BImPPO-2. as a function of alkaline treatment ( mol L - NaOH at 60 0 C) time. S8
7. Summary of fuel cell performance of recently reported AEMs Table S2 Performance of recently reported AEMs for H 2 /O 2 fuel cell application δ OH- (ms cm - ) at 30 o C Peak power density (mw cm - 2 ) Operating temperature ( o C) Metal loading Catalyst (mg cm -2 ) Cathode Anode Cathode Anode Backpressure (MPa) Ref. 32 76 60 Pt/C PtRu/C 0.5 0.5 0.0 34 43 55 Pt/C PtRu/C 0.5 0.5 0.0 27 94 50 Pt/C PtRu/C 4.0 4.0 0.0 2 44 870 60 Pt/C PtRu/C 0.4 0.2 0. 3 44 000 60 Pt/C PtRu/C 0.4 0.4 0. 3 85 960 60 Pt/C PtRu/C 0.4 0.6 0.0 4 5 2020 80 Pt/C PtRu/C 0.4 0.6 0.0 5 45 437 65 Pt/C PtRu/C 0.5 0.5 0.0 This work 8. References for electronic supplementary information. Y. Zhu, Y. He, X. Ge, X. Liang, M. A. Shehzad, M. Hu, Y. Liu, L. Wu and T. Xu, J. Mater. Chem. A, 208, 6, 527-534. 2. J. R. Varcoe, R. C. T. Slade, E. L. H. Yee, S. D. Poynton, D. J. Driscoll and D. C. Apperley, Chem. Mater., 2007, 9, 2686-2693. 3. J. R. Varcoe, R. C. T. Slade, E. L. H. Yee, S. D. Poynton, D. J. Driscoll and D. C. Apperley, Chem. Mater., 2007, 9, 2686-2693. 4. L. Q. Wang, J. J. Brink, Y. Liu, A. M. Herring, J. P. Gonzalez, D. K. Whelligan and J. R. Varcoe, Energy & Environ. Sci., 207, 0, 254-267. 5. L. Q. Wang, M. Bellini, H. A. Miller and J. R. Varcoe, J. Mater. Chem. A, 208, 6, 5404 542. S9