Enhancing Physicochemical Properties and Single Cell Performance of Sulfonated Poly(arylene ether) (SPAE) Membrane by Incorporation of Phosphotungstic Acid and Graphene Oxide: A Potential Electrolyte for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Abstract

The development of potential and novel proton exchange membranes (PEMs) is imperative for the further commercialization of PEM fuel cells (PEMFCs). In this work, phosphotungstic acid (PWA) and graphene oxide (GO) were integrated into sulfonated poly(arylene ether) (SPAE) through a solution casting approach to create a potential composite membrane for PEMFC applications. Thermal stability of membranes was observed using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and the SPAE/GO/PWA membranes exhibited high thermal stability compared to pristine SPAE membranes, owing to the interaction between SPAEK, GO, and PWA. By using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM), we observed that GO and PWA were evenly distributed throughout the SPAE matrix. The SPAE/GO/PWA composite membrane comprising 0.7 wt% GO and 36 wt% PWA exhibited a maximum proton conductivity of 186.3 mS cm−1 at 90 °C under 100% relative humidity (RH). As a result, SPAE/GO/PWA composite membrane exhibited 193.3 mW cm−2 of the maximum power density at 70 °C under 100% RH in PEMFCs.

Polyvinyl Alcohol Incorporated with Mesoporous Phosphotungstic Acid for Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Application

“…It exhibits strong proton conductivities that could reach as high as 1.9 × 10 −1 S cm -1 [12]. It also can improve membrane performance even under low-humidity and hightemperature experimental conditions [13][14]. At low temperature, the proton conductivity for reduction of oxygen on platinum and oxygen affinity properties of PTA are considerable and comparable with the same characteristics that exhibits from perfluorosulfonic acid electrolyte due to the 29 water molecules in the PTA (H3PW12O40 29H2O) [15].…”

Experimental and Computational Approaches to Sulfonated Poly(arylene ether sulfone) Synthesis Using Different Halogen Atoms at the Reactive Site

“…Both the SPAES-Cl and SPAES-F copolymers did not show any sharp, narrow peaks, indicating a lack of crystallinity and a completely amorphous nature of the copolymer. The amorphous nature of SPAES copolymers is due to the random arrangement of the monomeric units, leading to the perturbation of the long-range order between the chains [46,62]. The d-spacing was calculated using Bragg's relation: nλ = 2dsin(θ), where n is an integer (1), λ is the wavelength of the incident light (1.54 Å), and d is the average inter/intrachain distance of the copolymer.…”

A Critical Review on the Use of Ionic Liquids in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

“…Research has been focusing on the optimization of the fuel cell by optimizing the configuration, materials, conformation, and structure of the catalyst layer [5][6][7][8][9]. For instance, several research studies have focused on decreasing the cost of PEMFCs by enhancing the electrolyte conductivity [10][11][12][13]. Simultaneously, in order to enhance the safety of the fuel cells, nonflammable and nonvolatile electrolytes have been investigated.…”