Abstract
Inorganic-organic composite electrolyte membranes were fabricated from CsXH3−XPMo12O40 (CsPOMo) and quaternary diazabicyclo-octane polysulfone (QDPSU) using a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) porous matrix for the application of intermediate temperature fuel cells. The CsPOMo/QDPSU/PTFE composite membrane was made proton conducting by using a relatively low phosphoric acid loading, which benefits the stability of the membrane conductivity and the mechanical strength. The casting method was used in order to build a thin and robust composite membrane. The resulting composite membrane films were characterised in terms of the elemental composition, membrane structure and morphology by EDX, FTIR and SEM. The proton conductivity of the membrane was 0.04 S cm−1 with a H3PO4 loading level of 1.8 PRU (amount of H3PO4 per repeat unit of polymer QDPSU). The fuel cell performance with the membrane gave a peak power density of 240 mW cm−2 at 150 °C and atmospheric pressure.
Highlights
Fuel cells are potential power sources for future pollution-free applications
Based on our previous work, quaternary diazabicyclo-octane polysulfone (QDPSU) was successfully synthesised and considered as a membrane for intermediate temperature fuel cells, giving a power density of 400 mW cm−2 at 150 °C and atmospheric pressure [10]. Several inorganic materials, such as TiO2 [11], caesium substitute heteropolyacids [7] and graphite oxide [12] have been combined with PBI to form composite membranes with enhanced conductivity
The dense structure of the composite membrane indicates that the pores of the PTFE membrane were filled with the CsPOMo and QDPSU
Summary
Fuel cells are potential power sources for future pollution-free applications. Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are an important type of fuel cell for applications in portable devices, stationary and transport power supply. Based on our previous work, quaternary diazabicyclo-octane polysulfone (QDPSU) was successfully synthesised and considered as a membrane for intermediate temperature fuel cells, giving a power density of 400 mW cm−2 at 150 °C and atmospheric pressure [10]. Several inorganic materials, such as TiO2 [11], caesium substitute heteropolyacids [7] and graphite oxide [12] have been combined with PBI to form composite membranes with enhanced conductivity. Composite membrane was prepared with a low phosphoric acid loading to provide good proton conductivity and mechanical strength
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