Leon Brinke receives Honorary Plaque from FH Aachen
Aachen, 12 December 2024 - Leon Brinke, PhD student at HI ERN, has been awarded the Aachen University of Applied Sciences Plaque of Honour. Only the best five per cent of students from the ten faculties receive this award. It has been awarded for outstanding academic performance since 1973.
For his recently awarded Master's thesis entitled "Low-fluorine sulfonamide & sulfonimide polymers as proton exchange membranes in fuel cells", the PhD student tested a new functional group (bisulfonimide) for use in the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell as an alternative to the previous Nafion.
The membrane materials currently used consist of perfluorinated and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS for short). These can cause environmental and health damage if they are released into the environment during production, use or disposal. The new membrane materials are intended to avoid the use of PFAS in future, reduce costs and increase recyclability.
The master's thesis forms the basis of the publication "Sulfonamide-Sulfonimide Copolymers as Novel, Fluorine-Lean Type of Proton Exchange Membranes for Fuel Cell Application", which was produced as part of the "Sustaincell" research project. This was published by the journal "Chemistry Europe".
The EU project "Sustaincell" aims to establish a European supply chain for materials for use in fuel cells and electrolyzers that require fewer critical raw materials - with a smaller ecological footprint and reduced costs.
Leon Brinke studied chemistry at FH Aachen in cooperation with Forschungszentrum Jülich from 2017 to 2021 and completed his Master's degree in Applied Polymer Science. Since 2023, Brinke has been researching fluorine reduction for PEM materials at HI ERN in the "Membrane Polymer Synthesis" team led by Dr. Jochen Kerres.
Publication
L. Brinke, M. Wagner, S. Thiele, J. Kerres, Chem. Eur. J. 2024, 30, e202402025. Sulfonamide-Sulfonimide Copolymers as Novel, Fluorine-Lean Type of Proton Exchange Membranes for Fuel Cell Application
https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202402025
