Gemini-grafting

Direct hydrothermal synthesis. Prepared using titanium isopropoxide (triethanolaminato) and TEOS as the sources of Ti and Si, respectively, and the Gemini-type surfactant 18-12-18 or cetyl-benzyl dimethylammonium chloride (CBDAC) as a template. In the grafting method, silicious MCM-48 first prepared and then the dry surface grafted with titanium isopropoxide... 

These three problems will be dealt with in this presentation the MCM-48 support is prepared by a controlled extraction of the cationic gemini surfactant, in such a way that no thermal post-treatment step is required. Secondly, we present an approach of selective, partial hydrofobization of the silica walls, using dimethyldichlorosilane (DMDCS), rendering it essentially hydrophobic to withstand the water attack, but creating simultaneously sufficient active sites for a subsequent grafting of the surface. Finally, VOx surface species are grafted on the silylated MCM-48 surface, in such a way that leaching is almost completely suppressed. 

The very early membranes, fabricated by Gmbb and Niedrach of GE, were phenol-formaldehyde sulfonic acids produced by flic condensation of phenolsulfonic acid and formaldehyde. Unfortunately, they hydrolyzed easily and were extremely weak. These were followed by membranes wifli a partially sulfonated polystyrene backbone. Their performance was also unsatisfactory, achieving a lifetime of only 200 hours at 60 °C. The first membranes to have sufficient physical strength were D membranes, manufactured by American Machine Foundry. They were fabricated by grafting styrene-divinylbenzene into a fluorocarbon matrix, followed by sulfonation. D membranes achieved life spans of 500 hours at 60 °C and were utilized in the fuel cells as auxiliary power sources for seven Gemini space missions [14]. 

Very early hydrocarbon-based membranes tested as electrolytes in PEMECs for Gemini space missions, such as sulfonated phenol-formaldehyde resins, sulfonated poly(styrene-divinylbenzene) copolymers, and grafted polystyrene sulfonic acid membranes, were chemically weak, and therefore PEMFCs using these membranes showed poor performance and had only lifetimes of several hundred hours (LaConti et al. 2003). Nafion , a PESA membrane, was developed in the mid-1960s by DuPont (LaConti et al. 2003). It is based on an aliphatic perfluorocarbon sulfonic acid, and exhibited excellent physical properties and oxidative stability in both wet and dry states. A PEMEC stack using Nafion 120 (250- tm thickness, equivalent weight = 1,200) achieved continuous operation for 60,000 h at 43-82°C (LaConti et al. 2003, 2006). A Nafion -based PEMFC was used for the NASA 30-day Biosatellite space mission (LaConti et al. 2003). 

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