A Study on the Role of -SO₃^- Ions in the Dehydration Limit of Poly(styrene-co-styrenesulfonic acid) Membrane

In this work, the effect of low-temperature dehydration of a poly(styrene-co-styrenesulfonic acid) (PSSA) membrane was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), electron magnetic resonancespectroscopy (EMR), and $^1H$- and $^{13}C$ solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. These analyses were performed at room temperature for powdered PSSA specimens with and without dehydration and the following key observations were made. First, FT-IR analysis showed that low-temperature dehydration not only transformed the [${SO_3}^-{\cdots}H^+$] ionic pair in the non-hydrated PSSA to an $SO_3H$ group, but also induced the formation of -C=C- double bonds in the dehydrated PSSA. Second, the ${-SO_3}^{\bullet}$ radical was unambiguously identified by EMR spectroscopy. Third, H-abstraction was detected by $^1H$ magic-angle spinning spectroscopy. Finally, an unexpected color shift from white for the non-hydrated PSSA to a yellowish brown for the dehydrated sample was observed. In order to explain these experimental results, it was proposed that the formation of the intermediate hydrogen ($H^{\bullet}$) or hydroxyl radical ($HO^{\bullet}$) species was initiated by the dehydration process. The sespecies attacked the $SO_3H$ group and the tertiary proton at the ${\alpha}-carbon$, resulting in the formation of $-SO^{\bullet}$ radicals and -C=C- double bonds, which correlated with the color shift in the dehydrated PSSA sample. The semechanisms are useful for understanding the simultaneous loss of an aromatic ring and -SO- groups in the PSSA fuel cell membrane.