Abstract:

The sodium alginate (SA) cation layer was modified by copper octocarboxyphthalocyanine or copper phthalocyanine tetrasulfonic acid, and the chitosan (CS) anion layer was modified by copper tetraaminophthalocyanine to prepare the modified SA/CS bipolar membranes (BPMs).The BPMs were characterized using TG, electric universal testing machine, contact angle measurer and J-V investigation.Experimental results showed that the thermal stability, mechanical properties and hydrophilicity of the BPMs were increased.After modification, high charge density area formed in the interlayer.As the catalytic centers of water splitting in the interlayer, metallophthalocyanine derivatives sped up water splitting into hydrogen ions and hydroxide ions, and lowered the IR drop of the BPMs.The metallophthalocyanine derivatives with dissimilar substituents showed different catalytic ability to water splitting in BPMs, which was in connection with the hydrophilicity of the relevant modified membranes.