Novel-SiO<sub>2</sub>-Doped Proton Exchange Membrane for Self-Humidifying Fuel Cell

Abstract

To retain the optimum hydration level of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) without humidification sub-system, a novel self-humidifying composite membrane was fabricated by the technology of Si[OCH2CH3]4 in situ sol-gel reaction in a commercial Nafion 112 membrane. The physico-chemical properties of the membrane were studied by means of AFM, SEM and AC impedance. These results showed that the nano-SiO2 reactant was uniformly distributed in the composite membrane. It was found that the proton conductivity increased observably by dispersing 3 wt % nano-SiO2 in the composite membrane at low water content, and the SiO2/Nafion composite membrane improved the self-humidifying performance of PEMFC.