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Functionalized Single‐Walled Carbon Nanohorns to Reinforce Sulfonated Poly(ether ether ketone) Electrolyte for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells
Author(s) -
Turanelloormana Parameswaran,
Sarmah Sudeshna,
Torris Arun,
Bhat Santoshkumar D.,
Unni Sreekuttan M.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
chemelectrochem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.182
H-Index - 59
ISSN - 2196-0216
DOI - 10.1002/celc.202000866
Subject(s) - methanol fuel , methanol , electrolyte , materials science , ether , conductivity , chemical engineering , composite number , membrane , proton exchange membrane fuel cell , electrochemistry , nafion , ketone , direct methanol fuel cell , polymer chemistry , chemistry , composite material , organic chemistry , electrode , engineering , biochemistry , anode
Carbon‐nanomaterial‐based additives are promising materials for improving the physicochemical properties of sulfonated polyether ether ketone (sPEEK) for its use as composite membrane electrolyte in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). In this work, functionalized single‐wall carbon nanohorns (f‐SWNHs) are realized as an additive in sPEEK. The −COOH groups created on the SWNHs during peroxide treatment improve the dispersion of f‐SWNHs in sPEEK and boost the proton conductivity, ion exchange capacity, mechanical properties and reduce the methanol permeability of the electrolyte. The composite membrane with 0.50 wt.% f‐SWNHs shows improved electrochemical selectivity of 17.03×10 −4 Scm −3 s and delivers the highest peak power density of 230 mW cm −2 in DMFCs.