This paper reports the characterization of a new type of low-cost proton exchange membrane (PEM) based on photo-patternable nano porous aryl epoxy resin (npAER) sulfonated by sulfanilic acid. The npAER PEM fabrication process involves solvent-casting nanoporous structure formation combined with standard photolithography steps for microstructure fabrication. The PEM was placed in the cathode of a half-fuel cell for testing in O.SM H2S04 at different temperatures with constant oxygen flow. When compared to commercial PEM Nafion®, this npAER PEM exhibits increased current density by about 170% as temperature increased from 60" C to 90" C, while the current density of Nafion® dropped by about 70%. The new npAER PEM demonstrates decent thermal stability, mechanical strength and proton transport ability at a higher temperature (90" q.
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