Modulating Water Binding in Branched Poly(terphenylene 3-piperidinium) Anion Exchange Membranes for High-performance Water Electrolysis

Zhen-Jiang Yan; Bo Li; Chen-Xi Wang; Lan Zhang; Heng Wang; Hai-Bing Wei; Yun-Sheng Ding

doi:10.1007/s10118-026-3663-0

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Modulating Water Binding in Branched Poly(terphenylene 3-piperidinium) Anion Exchange Membranes for High-performance Water Electrolysis

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2026-07-27

- Modulating Water Binding in Branched Poly(terphenylene 3-piperidinium) Anion Exchange Membranes for High-performance Water Electrolysis
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science Vol. 44, Issue 8, Pages: 2502-2512(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  a.Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China
  b.State Key Laboratory of Organometallic Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032, China
  c.Anhui Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Materials and Devices, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China
- Author bio：
  
  hbwei@hfut.edu.cn
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-026-3663-0
  CLC：
- Received：08 March 2026，
  
  Accepted：11 March 2026，
  
  Online First：09 June 2026，
  
  Published：15 August 2026
- Accepted：
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Yan, Z. J.; Li, B.; Wang, C. X.; Zhang, L.; Wang, H.; Wei, H. B.; Ding, Y. S. Modulating water binding in branched poly(terphenylene 3-piperidinium) anion exchange membranes for high-performance water electrolysis. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 2502–2512

Zhen-Jiang Yan, Bo Li, Chen-Xi Wang, et al. Modulating Water Binding in Branched Poly(terphenylene 3-piperidinium) Anion Exchange Membranes for High-performance Water Electrolysis[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(8): 2502-2512.
Yan, Z. J.; Li, B.; Wang, C. X.; Zhang, L.; Wang, H.; Wei, H. B.; Ding, Y. S. Modulating water binding in branched poly(terphenylene 3-piperidinium) anion exchange membranes for high-performance water electrolysis. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 2502–2512 DOI： 10.1007/s10118-026-3663-0.

Zhen-Jiang Yan, Bo Li, Chen-Xi Wang, et al. Modulating Water Binding in Branched Poly(terphenylene 3-piperidinium) Anion Exchange Membranes for High-performance Water Electrolysis[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(8): 2502-2512. DOI： 10.1007/s10118-026-3663-0.

摘要

A branched poly(terpolyphenylene 3-piperidinium) membrane was developed

featuring a high fraction of bound water and improved ion conduction efficiency. Water electroly

sis cells using this membrane achieved current densities of 10.4 A·cm

–2

at 2.0 V with an Ir anode and 6.3 A·cm

–2

with a noble-metal-free Ni-Fe anode

and demonstrated 1000 h durability in the noble-metal-free anode configuration.

Abstract

Anion exchange membranes (AEMs) are central to clean energy technologies such as AEM water electrolysis

and clarifying how water binding and solvation govern ion transport and membrane swelling is critical to advancing their performance. Here

using a distorted

five-site branching agent

dispiro[fluorene-9

1’-3’-methylenecyclohexane-5’

9’’-fluorene

]

(SFCF)

we report branched poly(terphenylene 3-piperidinium) membranes that combine strong water binding with efficient ion transport. Upon polymer branching

the membranes exhibit a higher fraction of bound water and increased local molecular mobility while absorbing only half as much water as the linear analog. As a result

the optimized B-

PTP-3 delivers a high conductivity of 186 mS·cm

−1

at 80 °C with a low 56 wt% water uptake and less than 15% swelling. In addition

by isomeric piperidinium chemistry

the membrane shows excellent alkaline stability in 1 mol·L

–1

aq. NaOH

with no degradation after a 2000-h soaking at 80 °C. An AEM water electrolyzer equipped with the branched membrane achieves a high current density of up to10.4 A·cm

−2

at 2 V. Moreover

the electrolyzer can operates stably at 1.0 A·cm

−2

for 1000 h with a voltage decay of 95 µV·h

−1

without increased hydrogen crossover. This work highlights a branching-enabled design strategy for tuning water binding and solvation to realizing high performance

durable AEMs for clean energy devices.

关键词

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