Novel epoxy-based cross-linked polybenzimidazole for high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells

作者：Wang, Shuang; Zhang, Gang; Han, Miaomiao; Li, Hongtao; Zhang, Yang; Ni, Jing; Ma, Wenjia; Li, Mingyu; Wang, Jing; Liu, Zhongguo; Zhang, Liyuan; Na, Hui^*

来源：International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2011, 36(14): 8412-8421.

DOI：10.1016/j.ijhydene.2011.03.147

• Cross-linked
• Epoxy
• Polybenzimidazole
• Proton exchange membrane

An approach has been proposed to prepare the reinforced phosphoric acid (PA) doped cross-linked polybenzimidazole membranes for high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells (HT-PEMFCs), using 1,3-bis(2,3-epoxypropoxy)-2,2-dimethylpropane (NGDE) as the cross-linker. FT-IR measurement and solubility test showed the successful completion of the crosslinking reaction. The resulting cross-linked membranes exhibited improved mechanical strength, making it possible to obtain higher phosphoric acid doping levels and therefore relatively high proton conductivity. Moreover, the oxidative stability of the cross-linked membranes was significantly enhanced. For instance, in Fenton's reagent (3% H2O2 solution, 4 ppm Fe2+, 70 degrees C), the cross-linked PBI-NGDE-20% membrane did not break into pieces and kept its shape for more than 480 h and its remaining weight percent was approximately 65%. In addition, the thermal stability was sufficient enough within the operation temperature of PBI-based fuel cells. The cross-linked PBI-NGDE-X% (X is the weight percent of epoxy resin in the cross-linked membranes) membranes displayed relatively high proton conductivity under anhydrous conditions. For instance, PBI-NGDE-5% membrane with acid uptake of 193% exhibited a proton conductivity of 0.017 S cm(-1) at 200 degrees C. All the results indicated that it may be a suitable candidate for applications in HT-PEMFCs.

• 出版日期2011-7
• 单位吉林大学