The copolymers for preparing OH form anion exchange membranes based on two types of imidazolium ionic liquid
monomers were synthesized via free radical polymerization, as mentioned in Section 2.3. The synthetic routes are shown in Scheme 2 and Scheme 3. Because of the strong water affinity of imidazolium ionic liquids, styrene was introduced to the polymer backbone to adjust the hydrophilic-lipophilic balance of the membranes. The properties of the copolymers could be tuned by varying the monomer ratios in the reactants.