Orientational uniaxial stretching of proton conducting perfluorinated membranes.

The Aquivion®‐type perfluorinated proton conducting membranes were studied subjected to a specially developed technique of uniaxial orientational stretching. Membranes were prepared from copolymer produced by aqueous‐emulsion copolymerization and by pressing the melt copolymer precursor or by casting a solution of copolymer in sulfonyl alkaline form in dimethylformamide. The possibilities of the regulation of electrochemical and physical–chemical properties of Aquivion®‐type membranes using the method of orientational stretching are demonstrated. Proton conductivity rises in the stretching direction due to the straightening of the pathways for protons in membranes found by small‐angle neutron scattering technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]