Polymer / Nanoparticle Hybrid Membrane for Fuel Cell Application

Abstract

The nanoparticle incorporated membranes were found to be optimistic versions of modified traditional polymeric membranes for fuel cell applications, with three main characteristics of enhanced diffusion, mechanical properties, and high resistance to thermal degradation. In Nafion membrane, Ion conductivity, which arises from the interaction between sulfone group and oxidized gas, the redox reactions involve thermal energy generation due to which water present inside the membrane evaporates thus significantly hinders the efficiency of membranes. In this present work, copper oxide and nickel tungstate nanoparticles were synthesized and nanoparticle immobilized polymer membranes were fabricated using the phase-inversion technique. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) to analyze its surface morphology, crystallinity and elemental composition of materials were identified using Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis (EDAX). The membranes are studied using FESEM for its surface morphology and surface roughness of membrane by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and wettability by Contact Angle measurement.