Hierarchical Porous Polybenzimidazole Microsieves: An Efficient Architecture for Anhydrous Proton Transport via Polyionic Liquids

Liquid-induced phase-separation micromolding (LIPSμM) has been successfully used for manufacturing hierarchical porous polybenzimidazole (HPBI) microsieves (42–46% porosity, 30–40 μm thick) with a specific pore architecture (pattern of macropores: ∼9 μm in size, perforated, dispersed in a porous matrix with a 50–100 nm pore size). Using these microsieves, proton-exchange membranes were fabricated by the infiltration of a 1H-3-vinylimidazolium bis­(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)­imide liquid and divinylbenzene (as a cross-linker), followed by in situ UV polymerization. Our approach relies on the separation of the ion conducting function from the structural support function. Thus, the polymeric ionic liquid (PIL) moiety plays the role of a proton conductor, whereas the HPBI microsieve ensures the mechanical resistance of the system. The influence of the porous support architecture on both proton transport performance and mechanical strength has been specifically investigated by means of comparison with straight macroporous (36% porosity) and randomly nanoporous (68% porosity) PBI counterparts. The most attractive results were obtained with the poly­[1-(3H-imidazolium)­ethylene]­bis­(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)­imide PIL cross-linked with 1% divinylbenzene supported on HPBI membranes with a 21-μm-thick skin layer, achieving conductivity values up to 85 mS cm–1 at 200 °C under anhydrous conditions and in the absence of mineral acids.