Sulfonated poly(aryl ether ketone) and graphene oxide nanocomposite membrane for microbial fuel cell

Abstract

Materials based on graphene oxide (GO) as inorganic fillers in polymer composites have been attracting attention as a result of the potential for applications in electronics and nanocomposites membrane, due to their high conductivity, high mechanical strength, unique graphitized plane structure and electrically insulating property. Thus, poly(arylene ether ketone) (PAEK) has been used in this research to synthesize the nanocomposite membrane that could be higher selectivity than most commercially proton exchange membrane, nafion. The structure of graphene oxide and the bond form with the polymer is important as a lead to final properties and stability of the membrane for microbial fuel cell. GO has been synthesized from graphite powder by using modified Hummer method which is an oxidation process of graphite to graphene oxide. The PAEK was undergo sulfonation process to synthesize sulfonated PAEK by dissolving the polymer into concentrated sulfuric acid. The composite membrane could be prepared by mixing the the 5%, and 10% of GO solution with 10% SPAEK solution which give ratio of 0.5:10 and 1:10 respectively. The GO synthesized then was characterized by using attenuated total reflectance-fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). While, the SPAEK was characterized by using only ATR-FTIR and SEM. The graphene oxide structure was confirmed with the presence of broad peak of O-H at 3202 cm^-1, C=O of carboxylic acid at 1718 cm^-1 and C=C aromatic at 1615 cm^-1 and 1371 cm^-1. The GO is successfully exfoliated from graphite due to intense peak showed by XRD pattern at two-theta is 11.285º. From micrograph of SEM, the image of GO have a bulky and flaky structure due to introduction of oxide in the graphite layer.