Preparation of Poly Eter Eter Keton as Alternative Membrane for Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC)

Abstract

The objective of this study focuses on the characterization of polyetheretherketone (PEEK) membranes for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) application. The PEEK membrane was modified with sulfonation and charged surface modifying macromolecule (cSMM) using MDI, DEG and HBS in NMP solvent. The characterized of membrane were done using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), water uptake, contact angle, thermal stability, methanol permeability, proton conductivity and DMFC test. DMFC tests were performed at room temperature to obtain polarization curves that show voltages and power density of each variable. The results showed that the cSMM methode of the polymer increases water uptake, thermal stability, methanol permeability and proton conductivity. In terms of morphology, it was found that cSMM method can be applied for membrane modification for DMFC application. In terms of the DMFC tests of the membranes, SPEEK without modification proved to have the best performance in stability because of its low methanol permeability. In contrast, the best performance was achieved by the SPEEK/cSMM (with modification) in highest voltage and power density because of its high proton conductivity.