Preparation And Investigation Of Proton Exchange Membrane For High Temperature Fuel Cells Applications

Proton exchange membrane is a proton exchange membrane fuel cell's core components, play a side of the proton transfer from the membrane to the other side of the membrane and the barrier the dual role of fuel and oxidizer. Currently, Nafion(?)(uPont) film as a representative of the proton exchange membrane permeability with the high cost and high methanol permeability, especially in higher than 80℃, a large number of membrane water evaporation, the sharp decline in proton conductivity, it is difficult to meet the PEMFC in (80℃～100℃).Side chain aromatic sulfonated polymers as proton exchange membrane materials, the advantage is that the sulfonate groups far away from the polymer main chain and thus reduce the swelling of the polymer. We believe that the longer the polymer side chain is conducive to performance improvement. Therefore, we adopted the design of the monomer, its IR and NMR testing, synthesis of sulfonic acid groups farther away from the main chain of side chain (sulfonated poly aryl ether ketone) (SC-SPAEK) proton exchange membrane materials.In order to enhance operating temperature of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), sulfonated poly(aryle ether ketone sulfone)/ZrO2 composite membranes with different contents of ZrO2 were prepared by sol-blend mixed method in this paper. Infrared spectra showed that the Zr-O-Zr absorption peaks existed in composite membrane. SEM photos show ZrO2 nano-inorganic particles uniformly dispersed in SPAEKS polymer matrix. It was found that the introduction of nano-particles ZrO2 improved the thermal stability, water uptake and proton conductivity. The methanol permeability coefficient (5.6×10-7cm2/s) of SPAEKS/ZrO2-10% composite membrane was lower than that of SPAEKS film (6.7×10-7cm/s). The proton conductivities of all composite membrane was 0.08 S/cm at 80℃, which meet with the requirement of PEMFC at elevated temperature operation. The SPAEKS/ZrO2 composite membranes showed good potential for the usage in high temperature PEMFC.SPAEKS/ZrP composite membrane was preparation by in situ polymerization, with a series of different particle content of ZrP. Infrared spectra show that the SPAEK sulfonic acid groups in the polymer and zirconium hydrogen phosphate groups to form a strong interaction between. By measuring the performance of composite membrane swelling and water absorption decreased with the ZrP particle content in the composite film increased. Improve water-retention capacity of the membrane. The thermal stability of composite membranes were characterized in the 5% weight loss temperature is above 300℃, showing good thermal stability. SPAEKS/ZrP composite membrane compared with SPAEKS membrane, methanol permeability coefficient decreased, showing a good ability to block alcohol.