Abstract
Various proportions of sepiolite clay (1, 3, and 6 wt%) were blended with sulfonated polyether sulfone octyl sulfonamide (SPESOS) to improve the proton conductivity of SPESOS. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) were used to evaluate the structural functionalities, morphologies, and thermal stability of the composite membranes. FT-IR spectra indicated that no chemical reactions take place between the SPESOS and the clay. A lower degree of crystallinity in the SPESOS composite than that in pristine SPESOS was observed by XRD diffractograms. As observed in TGA, the elaborated membranes promoted the absorption of water due to the existence of sepiolite in the SPESOS. The presence of sepiolite nanoarchitecture material within SPESOS was found to have higher water retention, contact angle, and proton conductivity values than pristine SPESOS. These results reveal that the composite membranes display good hydrophilic character and higher ion exchange capacity than pristine SPESOS.