Characterization and electrochemical analysis of fabricated heterogeneous cation exchange membrane

Abstract

In this study, poly-vinyl-chloride (PVC) Cation exchange membrane (CEM) was fabricated at different quantities (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10% by weight) of cation exchange resin (CER), Amberlyst 15. The fabricated CEM was characterized by its surface morphology, functional group, thickness, water uptake, contact angle, and ion exchange capacity. In addition, Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) analysis was also performed to determine the ion conductivity and internal resistance to evaluate the efficiency of ion transfer by CEM. The results showed that the C4 membrane with the 8%wt of CER possessed the best characteristic and had the highest ion exchange capacity and ion conductivity. Thus, the results indicated that the C4 membrane containing 8%wt carrier concentration is the optimum among the fabricated CEMs.