Citation: Qian Liu, Jinshan Han, Binghui Liu, Yang Pang, Chengji Zhao. Poly(diphenyl carbazole)-based anion exchange membrane and ionomers for high-performance and durable anion exchange membrane water electrolysis[J]. Chinese Chemical Letters, ;2026, 37(7): 112207. doi: 10.1016/j.cclet.2025.112207 shu

Poly(diphenyl carbazole)-based anion exchange membrane and ionomers for high-performance and durable anion exchange membrane water electrolysis

Key Laboratory of High Performance Plastics, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China

zhaochengji@jlu.edu.cn

Received Date: 17 May 2025
Revised Date: 10 October 2025
Accepted Date: 2 December 2025
Available Online: 3 December 2025

Figures(4)

Alkaline anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE) is a low-cost and sustainable technology for hydrogen production. This study presents the development of high-performance anion exchange membrane (AEM) and ionomers based on quaternized poly(diphenyl carbazole) with rigid ether-bond-free aryl backbone and flexible multination strings in the side chains. The optimized molecular architecture induces pronounced microphase separation, enabling high hydroxide conductivity (159.3 mS/cm at 80 ℃) and exceptional alkaline stability (1 mol/L KOH at 80 ℃, retains 97.5% ionic conductivity and 88.6% tensile strength after 1800 h). By implementing an anode water-fed/cathode water-free configuration and regulating the structure and content of ionomers at anode and cathode electrodes, the AEMWE performance was significantly improved from 1.9 A/cm² to 4.2 A/cm² at 2 V (a 2.2-fold increase) using 1 mol/L KOH solution as the electrolyte. Under pure water conditions, the electrolyzer still achieved an excellent electrolysis performance of 1.8 A/cm² at 2 V. Furthermore, the fabricated AEMWE exhibited an outstanding in-situ durability with a low voltage degradation rate of 0.17 mV/h during a continuous operation of 1185 h at a current density of 0.5 A/cm².
- Anion exchange membrane,
- Poly(diphenyl carbazole),
- Micro-morphology,
- Alkaline stability,
- Water electrolysis
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