Influence of Confined Polymer Structure on Proton Transport Property in Sulfonated Polyimide Thin Films

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The organized structure and proton transport property in sulfonated polyimide (SPI) thin film have been studied, much less is known at the interfacial charge transport during confinement of such materials. The proton conductivity of SPI thin film is correlated well with the highly oriented polymer structures as determined by infrared (IR) p-polarized multiple-angle incidence resolution spectrometry (p-MAIRS) and in situ RH dependent synchrotron grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GI-XRD). The high proton conductivity of 2.8 × 10⁻¹ S cm⁻¹ at 80°C and 90% RH was achieved in the highly oriented SPI thin film. In contrast, the bulk SPI showed the drop of conductivity value at high relative humidity region, which is due to the significant structural disorder accompanied by the strong interaction between the sulfonic acid side chains and water molecules.