Abstract
In this paper a critical study is presented on how the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) membrane properties are affected by a pre-treatment. Membranes based on sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (sPEEK) with sulfonation degree (SD) of 42% were used, plain and modified inorganically with 1wt.% of zirconium oxide. Nafion 1135 was used as reference. The results obtained show that the sPEEK polymer (SD=42%) enables the preparation of proton exchange membranes with improved properties compared to Nafion and to the ZrO2-modified sPEEK membrane, mainly due to its improved relation between proton conductivity and methanol permeation. After the pre-treatment, the plain sPEEK membrane had a performance 6.4 times higher in terms of maximum power output when used in the DMFC.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 2909-2925 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | Separation Science and Technology |
Volume | 42 |
Issue number | 13 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 2007 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Conductivity
- Nafion
- Permeability coefficients and direct methanol fuel cell
- Pervaporation
- Sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (sPEEK)
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Chemistry
- General Chemical Engineering
- Process Chemistry and Technology
- Filtration and Separation