Preparation and properties of direct methanol fuel cell membranes by embedding sulfunic titania into sulfonated poly(arylene ether nitrile)s

Abstract

In order to improve the performance of DMFCs, sulfunic Titania have been synthesized and incorporated sulfonated poly (arylene ether nitrile) s to fabricate hybrid membranes with enhanced proton conductivity and methanol resistance. The introduction of particle content caused significant improvement in thermal property, methanol permeability, proton conductivity and dimensional stability. For instance, SPEN-5 wt% showed the highest selectivity of 5.05×105 S s cm-3, which was more than 10 times higher than that of Nafion 117. All the results make the hybrid membranes as potential candidate for applications in fuel cells.