What is it about?
Novel membrane materials for direct methanol fuel Cells (DMFC)s were developed. The membrane could be considered as a good replacement for commercial Nafion in methanol fuel cell.
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Why is it important?
Superior methanol barrier properties (P = 3.59 × 10–8 cm2 s–1), high proton conductivities reaching 58.6 mS cm–1 at 30 °C, comparable activation energy for proton transport and more than 20 times higher selectivity than Nafion 115 confirm the effectiveness of the composite membranes for application in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). When tested in DMFC single cell, the performance of hybrid membrane was far better than Nafion 115 especially at higher methanol concentrations.
Perspectives
Even though perfluorinated sulfonic acid membranes showe exceptional proton conductivity upon employing in DMFCs, excess methanol permeability ensue fuel loss as well as lower energy efficiency and fuel cell performance. Using of diluted methanol to minimize such excessive permeability is likely to reduce the energy density of fuel cell significantly. The ultimate solution is to prepare membranes with low feed crossover. In the present paper, we proposed a using of nanofibrous Nylon which is known as polymer with low methanol crossover. To enhance the proton conductivity, inorganic proton conductor of phosphotungestic acid introduced in the nanofibrous structure.
Dr Ebrahim Abouzari-Lotf
Institute of Hydrogen Energy
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Improved Methanol Barrier Property of Nafion Hybrid Membrane by Incorporating Nanofibrous Interlayer Self-Immobilized with High Level of Phosphotungstic Acid, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, August 2015, American Chemical Society (ACS),
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.5b02268.
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