Nanoporous composite proton exchange membranes: High conductivity and thermal stability

作者：Gahlot Swati; Sharma Prem P; Yadav Vikrant; Jha Prafulla K; Kulshrestha Vaibhav^*

来源：Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects , 2018, 542: 8-14.

DOI：10.1016/j.colsurfa.2018.01.039

• Polyethersulfone
• MCM-41
• Nanoporous PEMs
• Proton conductivity
• Thermo-mechanical properties

Nanoporous composite proton exchange membranes of sulfonated poly ether sulfone (SPES) and sulfonated mesoporous silica (S-MCM-41) have been prepared for energy based applications. Various weight % of Sulfonated MCM-41 has been incorporated in SPES matrix. The presence of surface functionalized MCM-41 as inorganic fillers in the SPES matrix, subsequently led to significant enhancement in the proton exchange capacity and proton conductivity of the nanoporous membranes. Nanoporous composite membranes have been subjected to various structural, thermal and mechanical techniques. Further developed membranes have been analyzed, for methanol permeability to evaluate membrane performance for fuel cell application. Methanol permeability of SM-2 is found to be 2.34x10(-8) cm(2) s(-1) which is very less than SPES revealing the suitability of composite membranes for fuel cell.

• 出版日期2018-4-5