A Method for Conditioning and Hydrolysis of an Extruded Membrane

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This invention provides a method for conditioning and hydrolyzing extruded perfluorosulfonyl fluoride membranes for use in electrochemical cells, such as water electrolyzers and fuel cells. The technique involves a specialized pretreatment to increase the ionic (proton) conductivity of these polymer membranes using a milder chemical process—hydrolyzing sulfonyl fluoride groups to sulfonic acid with triethylsilanol—so that the membranes function more efficiently as cation exchange membranes. The method also enables the fabrication of tubular membrane geometries, which can simplify cell design and lower manufacturing costs.

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• Production of high-efficiency hydrogen and oxygen in water electrolysis systems (PEM electrolyzers)
• Proton exchange membranes for fuel cells, supporting clean energy applications
• Use in flow batteries for large-scale renewable energy storage
• Tubular cell manufacturing for electrochemical reactors in industrial processes
• Replacement of expensive planar cell components with cost-effective tubular designs in various electrochemical devices

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• Enables milder membrane pretreatment conditions, reducing corrosion risk to sensitive catalyst-coated electrodes
• Increases ionic and proton conductivity of membranes, improving electrochemical device performance
• Allows the production of durable, high-conductivity tubular membranes, enabling new cell geometries that are more cost-effective to produce and assemble
• Reduces reliance on expensive and scarce materials (e.g., platinum group metals) by enabling less aggressive chemical processing
• Provides reproducible and controllable membrane characteristics (such as conductivity and stability) via optimized pretreatment and quality measurement techniques (like Raman and NMR spectroscopy)

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Patent Abstract

A method (500) for conditioning or hydrolysis of an extruded membrane is disclosed.The method (500) comprising ion exchange processes in divided electrochemical cells using a cation exchanger membrane. The method (500) includes extruding the perfluorosulfonyl fluoride membranes from perfluorosulfonyl fluoride granulate. The method (500) also includes using a pretreatment technique to increase the ionic conductivity of the extruded perfluorosulfonyl fluoride membranes before using the perfluorosulfonic acid membranes in electrolysis cells. The method (500) also includes applying a milder pretreatment technique by activating S-F bonds to execute nucleophilic exchange of the fluoride group in a reaction. The method (500) also includes hydrolyzing sulfonyl fluoride groups to sulfonic acid using triethylsilanol.