Abstract
Novel poly(arylene ether ketone) polymers with fluorophenyl pendants and phenoxide‐terminated wholly sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) oligomers are prepared via Ni(0)‐catalyzed and nucleophilic polymerization, respectively, and subsequently used as starting materials to obtain graft‐crosslinked membranes as polymer electrolyte membranes. The phenoxide‐terminated sulfonated moieties are introduced as hydrophilic parts as well as crosslinking units. The chemical structure and morphology of the obtained membranes are confirmed by ^1^H NMR and tapping‐mode AFM. The properties required for fuel cell applications, including water uptake and dimensional change, as well as proton conductivity, are investigated. AFM results show a clear nanoscale phase‐separation microstructure of the obtained membranes. The membranes show good dimensional stability and reasonably high proton conductivities under 30–90% relative humidity. The anisotropic proton conductivity ratios (σ~⟂/||~) of the membranes in water are in the range 0.65–0.92, and increase with an increase in hydrophilic block length. The results indicate that the graft‐crosslinked membranes are promising candidates for applications as polymer electrolyte membranes. magnified image