Novel high-performance nanohybrid polyelectrolyte membranes based on bio-functionalized montmorillonite for fuel cell applications

Abstract

This study is concerned with electrochemical investigation of novel high-performance proton exchange membranes based on bio-functionalized montmorillonite and Nafion. It was found that the incorporation of 2 wt% BMMT into Nafion polyelectrolyte matrix results in significantly improved methanol-air fuel cell efficiency of 30% compared to 14% for Nafion(R)117, and about 23-times higher membrane selectivity.

Polymer-Layered Silicate Nanocomposite Membranes for Fuel Cell Application

“…In contrast to the above results, addition of the chitosan-modified MMT to Nafion resulted in a decrease in the proton conductivity with increasing clay contents [85]. The low conductivities of the Nafion-clay nanocomposites arise mainly due to the aggregated morphology of the clay or the presence of the hydrophobic modifier [111,112].…”

“…The maximum power density of the Nafion 117 and the composites was noted to be 47 and 171 mW cm À2 , respectively, at 5 M methanol feed (Fig. 22.20) [85]. The DMFC cell performance study of SPAS-clay nanocomposite was found to be higher than the Nafion 115 membrane.…”

“…In order to improve the proton conductivity of the nanoclays, surface modifiers containing -SO 3 H and -PO 3 H groups are being used for the modifications of nanoclays. Different modifiers used for clay modifications via ionic modification technique include sulfanilic acid (SA), dimethyldioctadecylammonium chloride (DMDOC), chitosan, dodecylammonium chloride, and cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) [84][85][86][87][88][89]. Similarly, the modifiers used for the modification of clay by covalent modification technique are 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid (AMPS); 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (3-MPTMS); 1,3-propane sultone; 1,4-butane sultone; 1,2,2-trifluorohydroxy-trifluomethylethane sulfonic acid sultone (FMES); glycidoxypropyl triethoxysilane (GPTES); 3-2-imidazolin-1-yl-propyltrimethoxysilane and aminopropyl trimethoxysilane (APTMS); (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APS); and imidazolin-1-yl-glycidylpropyltriethoxysilane (IGPTES) [90][91][92].…”

“…Fabrication of Polymer-Clay Nanocomposite Membranes for Fuel Cell Applications Different solvents were used for the preparation of Nafion-clay nanocomposite membranes comprised of unmodified, modified, and acid-activated clays [85,92,102,103]. Nafion ® 112 solution in ethanol-water (50:50 by weight) was heated at 250 C in a reactor for 24 h, cooled, and then neutralized by the dropwise addition of 0.1 M NaOH solution.…”

Chitosan-Clay Bio-Nanocomposites

“…The corresponding bio-nanocomposites based on clays can be used as fillers of Nafion to develop polyelectrolyte membranes for direct methanol fuel cells. It has been observed that the incorporation of chitosan-montmorillonite considerably improves the membrane selectivity and reduces methanol crossover while adequately maintains the proton conductivity properties [66,67].…”