Summary
A composite membrane composed of a sulfonated diblock copolymer (SDBC) based on poly(ether ether ketone) blocks copolymerized with partially fluorinated poly(arylene ether sulfone) and sulfonated carbon nanotubes (SCNTs) was fabricated by simple solution casting. Addition of the SCNT filler enhanced the water absorption and proton conductivity of membranes because of the increased per‐cluster volume of sulfonic acid groups, at the same time reinforced the membranes' thermal and mechanical properties. The SDBC/SCNT‐1.5 membrane exhibited the most improved physicochemical properties among all materials. It obtained a proton conductivity of 10.1 mS/cm at 120°C under 20% relative humidity (RH) which was 2.6 times more improved than the pristine membrane (3.9 mS/cm). Moreover, the single cell performance of the SDBC/SCNT‐1.5 membrane at 60°C and 60% RH at ambient pressure exhibited a peak power density of 171 mW/cm2 at a load current density of 378 mA/cm2, while the pristine membrane exhibited 119 mW/cm2 at a load current density of 294 mA/cm2. Overall, the composite membrane exhibited very promising characteristics to be used as polymer electrolyte membrane in fuel cells operated at intermediate RH.
Ternary hybrid membranes composed of sulfonated (poly ether ether ketone) (SPEEK), sulfonated polyvinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene (SPVdF-HFP) and 1, 3, 5 or 7 wt% graphene oxide (GO) were fabricated using a facile solution casting method.
Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) is pivotal in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) with enhanced power performances. We reported a sulfonated (poly ether sulfone) (SPES) and sulfonated polyvinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoro propylene (SPVdF-HFP) blend membrane for the PEMFC. We fabricated the SPES/SPVdF-HFP blend membrane via a simple solvent-casting method with 10 or 20% of SPVdF-HFP. It exhibited enhanced proton conductivity and was assigned to the synergism between SPES and SPVdF-HFP. FE-SEM images of composite membrane revealed the effectual dispersion of SPVdF-HFP in the SPES matrix, which may offer an extend networks for facile proton conduction. Moreover, integration of SPVdF-HFP effectively increased the power density of blend membrane i.e., 262.78 mW/cm 2 , it was higher by 1.51 fold compared to bare SPES membrane (173.67 mW/cm 2 ).
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