Azulene-based homopolymers are of great interest from the point view of chemistry and material science. Herein, by means of Friedel–Crafts acylation to introduce solubilizing chains on the 1-position of azulene, we designed and synthesized two examples of 2,6-azulene-based homopolymers RP(Az-AC16) and P(Az-AC16). The arrangement of 2,6-azulene units is irregular for RP(Az-AC16), while P(Az-AC16) has head-to-head/tail-to-tail arranged 2,6-azulene units. Proton-responsive studies demonstrate that RP(Az-AC16) and P(Az-AC16) show reversible proton responsiveness in both solution and thin film. To utilize the dynamically reversible proton-responsive property of these polymers in thin films, RP(Az-AC16) and P(Az-AC16) were incorporated into a Nafion matrix as proton exchange membranes, wherein the Nafion/P(Az-AC16) composite membrane exhibits significant increases in proton conductivity relative to the Nafion membrane at different temperatures of each relative humidity (RH), which further results in a 64% improvement in hydrogen fuel cell output power under 30% RH at 80 °C. Our studies have realized the first solution synthesis of 2,6-azulene-based homopolymers and the first application of azulene-based π-systems in hydrogen fuel cells.

中文翻译：

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2,6-甘菊基均聚物：质子交换膜燃料电池的设计、合成和应用

从化学和材料科学的角度来看，基于 Azulene 的均聚物引起了极大的兴趣。在此，我们通过傅克酰化在 azulene 的 1 位引入增溶链，设计并合成了 2,6-azulene 基均聚物RP(Az-AC16)和P(Az-AC16)的两个实例。RP(Az-AC16)的 2,6-azulene 单元的排列是不规则的，而P(Az-AC16)具有头对头/尾对尾排列的 2,6-azulene 单元。质子响应研究表明RP(Az-AC16)和P(Az-AC16)在溶液和薄膜中都显示出可逆的质子响应性。为了利用这些聚合物在薄膜中的动态可逆质子响应特性，将RP(Az-AC16)和P(Az-AC16)结合到 Nafion 基质中作为质子交换膜，其中 Nafion/ P(Az-AC16)复合膜在每种相对湿度 (RH) 的不同温度下相对于 Nafion 膜的质子电导率显着增加，这进一步导致氢燃料电池输出功率在 80°C 和 30% RH 下提高 64%。我们的研究实现了2,6-薁基均聚物的首次溶液合成和薁基π体系在氢燃料电池中的首次应用。