Abstract
A crosslinked of Quaternized Poly (vinyl alcohol)/Graphene oxide (QPVA/GO) composite membrane was prepared via quaternization and solution casting method. With the main objective is to performed lower ethanol permeability membrane than Nafion 117 membrane thus can be the potential alternative membrane in future. The physical and chemical properties of the QPVA/GO membrane were investigated via the Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and Filed Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM). The characterization result shows the good interaction of matrix polymer, GO loading and glutaraldehyde as a crosslinked agent. A maximum conductivity of 1.08 × 10-2 S cm-1 was obtained for QPVA/10wt% GO membrane at 30°C. The ethanol permeability has been reduced until 2.2 × 10-7 cm2 s-1 with increasing of 10 wt.% GO loading which was lower than Nafion 117 (19.5 × 10-7 cm2 s-1). The increasing of GO content in composite membranes has append the hydrophobic region which play role as blocking effect to hinder the ethanol crossover. The cell voltage and power density were analyzed at the temperature 30°C. A maximum power density achieved by QPVA/GO membrane was 6.92 mW cm-2 at 10.wt% GO loading which higher than Nafion 117 with only 5.07 mW cm-2 using 2 M ethanol + 2 M KOH at 30°C.
Highlights
Ethanol has a potential as an alternative power source due to their advantages compared to methanol as known as pioneer alcohol applied in micro fuel cell technologies
The membrane – electrode assembly (MEA) for passive alkaline–DEFC test cell was fabricated by sandwich the crosslinked Quaternized Poly (vinyl alcohol)/Graphene oxide (QPVA/Graphene Oxide (GO)) composite membrane between anode and cathode electrodes via hot-pressing machine
For the crosslinked QPVA membrane, the absorption peak appear at 686 cm-1, 1643 cm-1 and 3399 cm-1 which belongs to the aliphatic C–H bending, C=C from backbone from matrix polymer and group of hydroxyl (Gu et al 2008; Han et al 2011); at 968 cm-1 belongs to characteristic of aliphatic of C-N, it is indicate that the quaternary ammonium group was grafted onto the backbone of matrix polymer of QPVA (Xiong et al 2008); at 1115 cm-1 is indicate the C–O–C stretch group appeared after the crosslinking treatment and it proved that the cross-linking reaction by GA was successful (Wang et al 2010)
Summary
Ethanol has a potential as an alternative power source due to their advantages compared to methanol as known as pioneer alcohol applied in micro fuel cell technologies. Passive alkaline direct ethanol fuel cell (alkaline– DEFC) is one of direct alcohol fuel cell types gain attention among the researchers. Polymer electrolyte membrane is an important part in the fuel cell development. Wang et al (2010) fabricate poly (vinyl alcohol)/3-(trimethylammonium) propyl functionalized silica (PVA-TMAPS) composite membrane and use in alkaline DEFC system. Zeng et al (2012) studied about PVA based membrane in alkaline DEFC which accompanied with layered double hydroxide with maximum power density achieved of 82 mW cm-2 at 80°C. Huang et al (2016) fabricated the membrane which applied in DEFC which consist of graphene and CNT as filler in PVA based membrane, respectively
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