Hexyl quaternary ammonium- and fluorobenzoyl-grafted SEBS as hydrophilic–hydrophobic comb-type anion exchange membranes

The new hydrophilic–hydrophobic comb-type anion exchange membrane (AEM) was prepared from SEBS grafted with hexyl quaternary ammonium (HQA) and fluorobenzoyl. As confirmed by XRD and TEM, a better phase separation was obtained by adding a highly hydrophobic fluorine-substituted pendant as an enhanced hydrophobic spacer to the conducting head group (which contained a hexyl spacer as a hydrophilic unit). The HQA-F1-SEBS and HQA-F5-SEBS membranes,...