Novel polybenzimidazole/graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets composite membrane for the application of acid-alkaline amphoteric water electrolysis

It is a great challenge to develop membrane materials with high performance and long durability for acidalkaline amphoteric water electrolysis.Hence,the graphitic carbon nitride(g-C_(3)N_(4))nanosheets were compounded with the(2,2'-m-phenylene)-5,5'-benzimidazole(m-PBI)matrix for the preparation of m-PBI/g-C_(3)N_(4) composite membranes.The synthesis of g-C_(3)N_(4) nanosheets and m-PBI matrix have been confirmed by X-ray diffraction(XRD),scanning electron microscopy(SEM),transmission electron microscoy(TEM)and ^(1)H nuclear magnetic resonance spectra(^(1)H NMR),respectively.The fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR)and SEM of the composite membranes showed the g-C_(3)N_(4) nanosheets were well dispersed in the m-PBI/g-C_(3)N_(4) composite membrane.The mechanical properties test exhibited the good mechanical strength,and the TGA curves of m-PBI showed the high thermal stability of composite membranes.Besides,the m-PBI/g-C_(3)N_(4) composite membrane showed excellent proton and hydroxide ion conductivity,which was higher than pure m-PBI and Nafion 115 membrane.The acid-alkaline amphoteric water electrolysis test showed m-PBI/1%g-C_(3)N_(4) composite membrane has the best performance with a current density of 800 mA cm^(-2) at cell voltage of 1.98 V at 20℃.It showed that m-PBI/g-C_(3)N_(4) composite membrane has a good application prospect for acid-alkaline amphoteric water electrolysis.