A methanol barrier polymer electrolyte membrane in direct methanol fuel cells

作者：Wu H; Wang YX^*; Wang SC

来源：Journal of New Materials for Electrochemical Systems, 2002, 5(4): 251-254.

• polymer electrolyte membrane
• direct membrane fuel cells
• polyvinyl (PVA)- blend polystyrene sulfonic acid (PSSA) better than Nafion((R))

A success membrane for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) must not only conduct proton, but also prevent methanol crossover With such an aim, membranes of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-blend-polystyrene sulfonic acid (PSSA) were prepared. The effects of curing temperature, methanol concentration and membrane composition on the ionic conductivity and the methanol permeability of the membranes were investigated. A membrane with 17% PSSA showed ionic conductivity a of 3 x 10(-3) S/cm and methanol permeability P of 2x10(-8) cm(2)/sec. The membrane would perform about 40 times better than Nafion(TM) membrane, if the ratio (sigma/P) is adopted to characterize the performance of a membrane for DMFC.

• 出版日期2002-10
• 单位天津大学