A process of producing a substituted polyacetylene electrolyte membrane which is a solid electrolyte membrane having a sulfonic group uniformly introduced thereinto, with its electrode assembly being useful as an electrochemical device or a fuel cell and an electrolyte membrane using the same are provided.
A process of producing a sulfonic group-containing substituted polyacetylene membrane, which includes molding a substituted polyacetylene containing a repeating unit represented by the following formula (1) into a membrane state and bringing the molding into contact with a sulfonating agent to achieve sulfonation and a substituted polyacetylene membrane which is produced by the subject production process and in which the sulfonic group is uniformly distributed in a membrane thickness direction.
In the formula (1), either one or all of R1 and R2 represent a silyl group represented by the following formula (2); and the remainder represents hydrogen, a hydroxyl group, an alkyl group or an alkoxy group each having from 1 to 8 carbon atoms, a t-butyldimethylsilyloxy group, an acetyloxy group, or a group represented by the following formula (3).
In the formula (2), X1, X2 and X3 each independently represents a linear or branched alkyl group having from 1 to 6 carbon atoms.
In the formula (3), R3 represents hydrogen, a hydroxyl group, an alkyl group or an alkoxy group each having from 1 to 8 carbon atoms, a trimethylsilyl group, a t-butyldimethylsilyloxy group, an acetyloxy group, or a group represented by the formula (2).