Figure 3 . Size exclusion chromatography of PSU-FG

1. CAREER: Development of Novel Polymer Electrolytes-Synthesis and Applications in Fuel CellsChulsung Bae, University of Nevada Las Vegas, DMR 0747667 • The aims of this project are to develop a series of novel sulfonated aromatic polymers through unique polymer synthesis design and investigate their properties for fuel cell membrane applications. • To overcome excessive swelling of fuel cell membranes, the most serious problem of current hydrocarbon-based membranes, we designed to incorporate fluorine into the aromatic polymers. In this work, we have developed a new synthetic method for the preparation of partially fluorinated aromatic monomers (Figure 1) [Tetrahedron2008, 64, 9837]. We are currently investigating polymerization of the fluorinated monomers. • We have developed a new controlled chemical modification of aromatic main-chain polymer (Figure 2). This method allowed incorporation of various functional groups with specific concentrations into polysulfone without causing chain degradation or crosslinking of polymer chains (Figure 3) [J. Am. Chem. Soc.2009, 131, 1656]. We are currently investigating incorporation of sulfonic acid group to aromatic polymers using this modification method. Figure 3. Size exclusion chromatography of PSU-FG

2. CAREER: Development of Novel Polymer Electrolytes-Synthesis and Applications in Fuel CellsChulsung Bae, University of Nevada Las Vegas, DMR 0747667 • Education • Three graduate students (Tae Soo Jo, Jihoon Shin, Lacie Brownell), a postdoc (Ying Chang), and three undergraduate students (Adi Avi-Izak, Dawn Moore, Kymberly Garcia) have been partially supported under this grant. The PI’s group members are composed of diverse backgrounds (3 males, 4 females including 1 African-American). • Jihoon Shin has completed his Ph.D. thesis • The PI group presented their research accomplishments at several national and international conferences (ACS, GRC, et al) • Outreach and Participation • A patent is filed under this grant • The PI has initiated close collaborations with research groups at RPI, Los Alamos National Lab, University of Nevada Reno for practical applications of the synthesized membranes • .The PI organized Polymer Science Engineering Symposium at US-Korean Conference on Science, Technology, and Entrepreneurship • The PI gave a lecture on functional polymeric materials for renewable energy applications in UNLV Renewable Energy Symposium