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Sulfonated poly(ether sulfone) (S-PES) was synthesized through the post-sulfonation of poly(ether sulfone)(PES) with chlorosulfonic acid as the sulfonating agent. The degree of sulfonation (DS) of the produced S-PES was controlled between 13.2 and 36.2% by adjusting the reaction time. The DS values were determined by elemental analysis, 1H-NMR, and titration against 0.01 M NaOH. The presence of sulfonic acid groups was confirmed using 1H-NMR and FT-IR analyses. The produced S-PES with different DS values were cast into membranes. The performance of these materials as cation-exchange membranes (CEMs) was evaluated in detail, in light of their ion exchange capacity, water uptake, hydration number, charge density, contact angle, thermal and long-term stability, ionic conductivity, and permselectivity. The properties of the obtained membranes were compared to various reported CEMs, including industrial benchmarks such as Nafion-117, Fuji CEM, FKS-20, CMX, and CSE. We demonstrate that our work achieved the best balance between ionic conductivity and permselectivity through finely controlled DS optimization. The best-performing membrane was found to have a DS of 32.4% with a significantly high ionic conductivity of 16.85 mS cm-1 and a high permselectivity of 98.0% in 0.5 M NaCl. Our work sheds light on the crucial interplay between various membrane properties as the degree of functionalization stepwise varies. The fabricated membranes are promising candidates for advancing electrodialysis-based desalination and salinity-driven renewable energy production technologies.

Rights:

• Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 International
  

Keyword: cation exchange membranes

Date published: 2026-01-13

Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)

Journal:

• ACS Omega (ISSN: 24701343) vol. 11 issue. 1 p. 1437-1446

Funding:

• NIMS JPJ012307 (SIP)

Manuscript type: Author's version (Accepted manuscript)

MDR DOI: https://doi.org/10.48505/nims.6128

First published URL: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.5c09018

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Updated at: 2026-01-15 13:11:17 +0900

Published on MDR: 2026-01-15 16:21:06 +0900