Proton conducting PAMPS networks: From flexible to rigid materials

To elaborate tailor-made proton conducting materials showing an interesting range of flexibility, a series of conetworks combining poly(2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid) (PAMPS) and poly(ethylene oxide) dimethacrylate (PEGDM) with various chain lengths was synthesized. The homogeneity of these conetworks was checked by differential scanning calorimetry and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis. The swelling behavior of these materials is strongly influenced by the amount of sulfonic acid groups and the endothermal peak temperature, characteristic of the presence of bound water in the conetwork, increases from 65 to 120 degrees C when AMPS amount increases from 10 to 75 wt %. In addition, the proton conductivity of these materials varies from 10(-3) to 10(-1) S cm(-1), depending on the AMPS amount. The storage moduli were found to be affected by both the AMPS content in the conetwork and its crosslinking density. (C) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.