Premium
Novel Nanocomposite PEM Membranes with Continuous Proton Transportation Channel and Reinforcing Network Formed by Electrospinning Solution Casting Method
Author(s) -
Hu Wei,
Yang Xue,
Hou Xiaowei,
Zhao Qi,
Liu Baijun,
Sun Zhaoyan,
Xie Haiming,
Zhu Guangshan
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
macromolecular materials and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.913
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1439-2054
pISSN - 1438-7492
DOI - 10.1002/mame.201900388
Subject(s) - electrospinning , membrane , materials science , nanocomposite , proton exchange membrane fuel cell , nanofiber , casting , chemical engineering , polymer chemistry , ultimate tensile strength , composite material , polymer , chemistry , biochemistry , engineering
In this work, a kind of novel nanocomposite proton exchange membranes (PEMs) with excellent properties for fuel cell application is obtained through the combination of electrospinning and solution casting. PEMs are obtained via the electrospinning of solution of sulfonated poly(arylene ether ketone)s (SPAEK)s with carboxylic acid group (SPAEK‐COOH) inserted with nanocrystal cellulose (NCC) first, and then, the SPAEK‐COOH solution is cast on the obtained electrospinning membrane to fill the voids. According to the scanning electron microscopy image of the membrane surface and freeze‐fractured cross section, the nonporous membrane was successfully obtained. The water uptake and the swelling rate of the nanocomposite membrane with 2% NCC (NF‐NCC2) decrease to 62% and 61.5%, respectively, and the membrane shows much higher proton conductivity (0.29 S cm −1 ) than the pristine SPAEK‐COOH membrane (NF‐NCC0) (0.196 S cm −1 ) at 100 °C. Furthermore, NF‐NCC2 shows a tensile strength of 38 MPa, which is an increase of 36% compared to NF‐NCC0 (28 MPa). The orderly and uniform distribution of NCC in the electrospinning nanofiber and further in the membranes.