Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (polymer + electrolyte_membrane)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Terms modified by Polymer Electrolyte Membrane

  • polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell

  • Selected Abstracts


    Novel Polymer Electrolyte Membrane, Based on Pyridine Containing Poly(ether sulfone), for Application in High-Temperature Fuel Cells

    MACROMOLECULAR RAPID COMMUNICATIONS, Issue 21 2005
    Elefterios K. Pefkianakis
    Abstract Summary: Novel poly(aryl ether sulfone) copolymers containing 2,5-biphenylpyridine and tetramethyl biphenyl moieties were synthesized by polycondensation of 4-fluorophenyl sulfone with 2,5-(4,,4, dihydroxy biphenyl)pyridine and tetramethyl biphenyl diol. Copolymers with different molecular weights and different monomer compositions were obtained. These copolymers exhibit excellent film-forming properties, mechanical integrity, and high modulus up to 250,°C, high glass transition temperatures (above 280,°C) as well as high thermal stability up to 400,°C. In addition to the above properties required for PEMFC application, this novel material shows high oxidative stability and acid doping ability, enabling proton conductivity in the range of 10,2 S,·,cm,1 above 130,°C. Synthesis of copolymers with high acid uptake and ionic conductivity. [source]


    Novel Polymer Electrolyte Membranes for Automotive Applications , Requirements and Benefits,

    FUEL CELLS, Issue 4 2004
    C. Wieser
    Abstract During the past few years, the feasibility of using polymer electrolyte fuel cells in automotive power trains at an impressive performance level has been proven repeatedly. However, current fuel cell stacks are still largely based on decade-old polymer electrolyte membrane technology thus limiting performance, durability, reliability, and cost of the fuel cell systems. The major challenge for membrane R&D constitutes the demand for polymer electrolytes that allow for system operation at higher temperatures and lower water management requirements without increased conduction losses. None the less, demanding automotive requirements will not compromise on other properties such as mechanical and chemical stability and gas permeability. [source]


    Polymer Electrolyte Membranes with a Pore-Filling Structure for a Direct Methanol Fuel Cell,

    ADVANCED MATERIALS, Issue 14 2003
    T. Yamaguchi
    Pore-filling membranes that are composed of a porous substrate and a filling polymer electrolyte have been developed. These polyelectrolyte membranes demonstrate low permeation with respect to methanol, high proton conductivity, good mechanical strength, chemical stability, and low cost, making them ideal for use in direct methanol fuel cells. The necessary characteristics can also be controlled by changing the substrate and the filling polymer electrolyte. [source]


    Polymer electrolyte membranes having sulfoalkyl grafts into ETFE film prepared by radiation-induced copolymerization of methyl acrylate and methyl methacrylate

    JOURNAL OF APPLIED POLYMER SCIENCE, Issue 1 2009
    Truong Thi Hanh
    Abstract Polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs) containing alkylsulfonic acid grafts can be prepared by radiation-induced graft copolymerization of methyl acrylate (MA) and methyl methacrylate (MMA) into a poly(ethylene- co -tetrafluoroethylene) film followed by sulfonation of the MA units in the copolymer grafts using an equimolar complex of chlorosulfonic acid and 1,4-dioxane (ClSO3H-Complex). PEMs with MA/MMA copolymer grafts that are 33%,79% MA units were prepared by preirradiation with a dose of 20 kGy and grafting in bulk comonomers at 60°C. The grafted films are treated with ClSO3H-Complex to obtain PEMs with ion exchange capacity of 0.36-0.81 mmol/g (sulfonation degrees of 20%,40%) and proton conductivity of 0.04-0.065 S/cm. These values can be controlled by changing the MA content the sulfonation occurring at an ,-carbonyl carbon. The PEMs with higher MMA content showed higher durability in water (80°C) and under oxidative conditions (3% H2O2) at 60°C. This is because the PMMA grafts in the PEMs have no proton at an ,-carbonyl carbon, which is considered to be a trigger of the degradation of grafting polymers. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009 [source]


    Polymer electrolyte membranes for high-temperature fuel cells based on aromatic polyethers bearing pyridine units

    POLYMER INTERNATIONAL, Issue 11 2009
    Joannis K Kallitsis
    Abstract This review is focused on the design and synthesis of new high-temperature polymer electrolytes based on aromatic polyethers bearing polar pyridine moieties in the main chain. Such materials are designed to be used in polymer electrolyte fuel cells operating at temperatures higher than 100 °C. New monomers and polymers have been synthesized and characterized within this field in respect of their suitability for this specific application. Copolymers with optimized structures in order to combine excellent film-forming properties with high mechanical, thermal and oxidative stability and controlled acid uptake have been synthesized which, after doping with phosphoric acid, result in ionically conducting membranes. Such materials have been studied in respect of their conductivity under various conditions and used for the construction of membrane-electrode assemblies (MEAs) which are used for fuel cells operating at temperatures up to 180 °C. New and improved, in terms of oxidative stability and mechanical properties in the doped state, polymeric membranes have been synthesized and used effectively for MEA construction and single-cell testing. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry [source]


    The effect of water content on proton transport in polymer electrolyte membranes

    FUEL CELLS, Issue 3-4 2002
    P. Commer
    Abstract We investigate proton transport in a polymer electrolyte membrane using continuum theory and molecular dynamics (MD) computer simulations. Specifically our goal is to understand the possible molecular origin of the effect of water content on the activation energy (AE) and pre-exponential factor of proton conductivity, in comparison with experimental observations reported for Nafion, where a decrease of AE with increasing water content has been observed. We study proton diffusion in a single pore, using a slab-like model. We find that although the average proton diffusion coefficient is several times smaller in a narrow pore than in a wide water-rich pore, its AE is almost unaffected by the pore width. This contradicts an earlier proposed conjecture that the sizable Coulomb potential energy barriers near the lattice of immobile point-like SO3, groups increase the AE in a narrow pore. Here we show that these barriers become smeared out by thermal motion of SO3, groups and by the spatial charge distribution over their atoms. This effect strongly diminishes the variation of the AE with pore width, which is also found in MD simulations. The pre-exponential factor for the diffusion process, however, decreases, indicating a limited number of pathways for proton transfer and the freezing out of degrees of freedom that contribute to the effective frequency of transfer. Decreasing the pore size diminishes bulk-like water regions in the pore, with only less mobile surface water molecules remaining. This hampers proton transfer. The increase of AE takes place only if the thermal motion of the SO3, head groups freezes out simultaneously with decreasing water content, but the effect is not profound. The stronger effect observed experimentally may thus be associated with some other rate-determining consecutive process, concerned with polymer dynamics, such as opening and closing of connections (bridges) between aqueous domains in the membrane under low water content. [source]


    Modelling CO poisoning and O2 bleeding in a PEM fuel cell anode

    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESEARCH, Issue 12 2003
    J.J. Baschuk
    Abstract Fuel gas containing carbon monoxide severely degrades the performance of a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell. However, CO poisoning can be mitigated by introducing oxygen into the fuel (oxygen bleeding). A mathematical PEM fuel cell model is developed that simulates both CO poisoning and oxygen bleeding, and obtains excellent agreement with published, experimental data. Modelling efforts indicate that CO adsorption and desorption follow a Temkin model. Increasing operating pressure or temperature mitigates CO poisoning, while use of reformate fuel increases the severity of the poisoning effect. Although oxygen bleeding mitigates CO poisoning, an unrecoverable performance loss exists at high current densities due to competition for reaction sites between hydrogen adsorption and the heterogeneous catalysis of CO. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    Modification of Nafion membrane using poly(4-vinyl pyridine) for direct methanol fuel cell

    POLYMER INTERNATIONAL, Issue 5 2006
    Jeon Chan Woong
    Abstract Perfluorinated membrane such as Nafion (from Du-Pont) has been used as a polymer electrolyte membrane. Nafion 117 membrane, which was usually used as the electrolyte membrane for the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), was modified by using poly(4-vinyl pyridine) (P4VP) to reduce the methanol crossover, which cause fuel losses and lower power efficiency, by the formation of an ionic crosslink structure (sulfonic acid-pyridine complex) on the Nafion 117 surface. Nafion film was immersed in P4VP/N -methyl pyrrolidone (NMP) solution. P4VP weight percent of modified membrane was controlled by changing the concentration of P4VP/NMP solution and the dipping time. P4VP weight percent increased with increasing concentration of dipping solution and dipping time. The thickness of the P4VP layer increased with increasing concentration of dipping solution and dipping time when the concentration of the dipping solution was low. At high P4VP concentration, the thickness of the P4VP layer was almost constant owing to the formation of acid,base complex which interrupted the penetration of P4VP. FTIR results showed that P4VP could penetrate up to 30 µm of Nafion 117 membrane. Proton conductivity and methanol permeability of modified membrane were lower than those of Nafion 117. Both decreased with increasing concentration of dipping solution and dipping time. Methanol permeability was observed to be more dependent on the penetration depth of P4VP. Water uptake of the modified membrane, the important factor in a fuel cell, was lower than that of Nafion 117. Water uptake also decreased with increasing of P4VP weight. On the basis of this study, the thinner the P4VP layer on the Nafion 117 membrane, the higher was the proton conductivity. Methanol permeability decreased exponentially as a function of P4VP weight percent. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry [source]


    Conductivity studies and performance of chitosan based polymer electrolytes in H2/air fuel cell

    POLYMERS FOR ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES, Issue 6 2009
    S. R. Majid
    Abstract Four chitosan-based electrolyte systems chitosan,H3PO4, chitosan,H3PO4,Al2SiO5, chitosan,H3PO4,NH4NO3 and chitosan,H3PO4,NH4NO3,Al2SiO5 were studied. The highest conducting sample at room temperature in each system have compositions of (in weight fraction) 0.62chitosan,0.38H3PO4, 0.615chitosan,0.377H3PO4,0.008Al2SiO5, 0.56chitosan,0.34H3PO4,0.10 NH4NO3, 0.5572chitosan,0.3383H3PO4,0.0995NH4NO3,0.005Al2SiO5. The conductivity for the samples is (5.36,±,1.32),×,10,5,S,cm,1, (1.12,±,0.18),×,10,4,S,cm,1, (1.16,±,0.35),×,10,4,S,cm,1, and (1.82,±,0.10),×,10,4,S,cm,1, respectively. The open-circuit voltage of the fuel cells utilizing electrolytes with conductivity of the order 10,4,S,cm,1 is ,0.9,V and the current density is greater than 20,mA,cm,2 at room temperature. Results show that the conductivity of the polymer electrolyte membrane influences the current density and performance of the fuel cell. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    Membrane reformer PEM cogeneration systems for residential applications,Part A: full load and partial load simulation

    ASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, Issue 3 2009
    Stefano Campanari
    Abstract This two-part paper investigates the performances and economic potential benefits of a fuel cell cogeneration system based on a membrane reformer (MREF), using polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells, applied to residential cogeneration. Part A of this work focuses on the thermodynamic analysis and simulation of the system at full and partial load conditions, discussing its performance by means of a sensitivity analysis carried out under different operating conditions. Part B presents the technoeconomic analysis of the proposed system integrated into a real residential application, dealing with the energy savings and the economic balances, and proposes a preliminary design of the cogeneration unit. The system is based upon a PEM fuel cell, integrated with a membrane reformer (MREF) to form a small-scale, highly efficient cogeneration unit, potentially suitable for application to distributed generation in the residential field. The high purity hydrogen fuel required by the PEM fuel cell is produced in the membrane reformer through hydrogen selective membranes based on a Pd-Ag alloy. The analysis is carried out aiming to define the system energy balances in all the conditions occurring under real operation, including the influence of ambient temperature and of the expected fuel cell efficiency decay with time. The discussion reveals the relevant potential advantages of the MREF solution with respect to fuel cell units based on steam reforming (SR) or auto-thermal reforming (ATR): when compared to these solutions, MREF exhibits a 10% points higher electrical efficiency and requires a much simpler plant layout. These results are the basis for the detailed system technoeconomic analysis carried out in Part B of the work. Copyright © 2009 Curtin University of Technology and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    Membrane reformer PEM cogeneration systems for residential applications,Part B: techno-economic analysis and system layout

    ASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, Issue 3 2009
    Stefano Campanari
    Abstract This two-part paper investigates the performances and potential economic benefits of a membrane reformer (MREF)-based fuel cell cogeneration system, using polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells, applied to residential cogeneration. Part A of the work focuses on the thermodynamic analysis and simulation of the system at full and partial load conditions, discussing its performance by means of a sensitivity analysis carried out under different operating conditions. Part B presents the techno-economic analysis of the proposed system integrated into a real residential application, dealing with the energy savings and the economic balances, and proposes a preliminary design of the cogeneration unit. The higher electric efficiency of the innovative MREF system proposed in this work allows a yearly cost savings about 50% higher than cost savings allowed by fuel cell cogeneration units based on conventional fuel processors. Moreover, CO2 emissions savings, calculated for an average northern Italy single-family load, is about 1.6 tCO2/year. The paper also presents a proposed system layout, discussing the preliminary design of all the required components and analyzing with particular care the issues related to the heat recovery loop and to the arrangement of the system key component: the membrane reforming reactor. Copyright © 2009 Curtin University of Technology and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    The effect of water content on proton transport in polymer electrolyte membranes

    FUEL CELLS, Issue 3-4 2002
    P. Commer
    Abstract We investigate proton transport in a polymer electrolyte membrane using continuum theory and molecular dynamics (MD) computer simulations. Specifically our goal is to understand the possible molecular origin of the effect of water content on the activation energy (AE) and pre-exponential factor of proton conductivity, in comparison with experimental observations reported for Nafion, where a decrease of AE with increasing water content has been observed. We study proton diffusion in a single pore, using a slab-like model. We find that although the average proton diffusion coefficient is several times smaller in a narrow pore than in a wide water-rich pore, its AE is almost unaffected by the pore width. This contradicts an earlier proposed conjecture that the sizable Coulomb potential energy barriers near the lattice of immobile point-like SO3, groups increase the AE in a narrow pore. Here we show that these barriers become smeared out by thermal motion of SO3, groups and by the spatial charge distribution over their atoms. This effect strongly diminishes the variation of the AE with pore width, which is also found in MD simulations. The pre-exponential factor for the diffusion process, however, decreases, indicating a limited number of pathways for proton transfer and the freezing out of degrees of freedom that contribute to the effective frequency of transfer. Decreasing the pore size diminishes bulk-like water regions in the pore, with only less mobile surface water molecules remaining. This hampers proton transfer. The increase of AE takes place only if the thermal motion of the SO3, head groups freezes out simultaneously with decreasing water content, but the effect is not profound. The stronger effect observed experimentally may thus be associated with some other rate-determining consecutive process, concerned with polymer dynamics, such as opening and closing of connections (bridges) between aqueous domains in the membrane under low water content. [source]


    Control of Domain Orientation in Block Copolymer Electrolyte Membranes at the Interface with Humid Air

    ADVANCED MATERIALS, Issue 2 2009
    Moon Jeong Park
    Domain orientation in polymer electrolyte membranes is tuned by controlling its sulfonation level and the moisture content of the air. At low sulfonation levels, highly ordered hydrophobic cylinders oriented perpendicular to the film surface are obtained, when the film is in humid air. Increasing the sulfonation level results in a transition from perpendicular to parallel orientation. [source]


    Synthesis and characterization of poly(ethylene oxide- co -ethylene carbonate) macromonomers and their use in the preparation of crosslinked polymer electrolytes

    JOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE (IN TWO SECTIONS), Issue 7 2006
    Anette Munch Elmér
    Abstract Methacrylate-functionalized poly(ethylene oxide- co -ethylene carbonate) macromonomers were prepared in two steps by the anionic ring-opening polymerization of ethylene carbonate at 180 °C, with potassium methoxide as the initiator, followed by the reaction of the terminal hydroxyl groups of the polymers with methacryloyl chloride. The molecular weight of the polymer went through a maximum after approximately 45 min of polymerization, and the content of ethylene carbonate units in the polymer decreased with the reaction time. A polymer having a number-average molecular weight of 2650 g mol,1 and an ethylene carbonate content of 28 mol % was selected and used to prepare a macromonomer, which was subsequently polymerized by UV irradiation in the presence of different concentrations of lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide salt. The resulting self-supportive crosslinked polymer electrolyte membranes reached ionic conductivities of 6.3 × 10,6 S cm,1 at 20 °C. The coordination of the lithium ions by both the ether and carbonate oxygens in the polymer structure was indicated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 2195,2205, 2006 [source]


    Single Radiation-Induced Grafting Method for the Preparation of Two Proton- and Lithium Ion-Conducting Membranes

    MACROMOLECULAR MATERIALS & ENGINEERING, Issue 8 2006
    Mohamed Mahmoud Nasef
    Abstract Summary: Two distinct types of polymer electrolyte membranes for conducting protons and lithium ions have been prepared by a radiation-induced grafting method. The polymer electrolyte precursor (PVDF- g -PS) is obtained by the simultaneous grafting of styrene onto poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) followed by one of two specific treatments. This includes sulfonation with a chlorosulfonic acid/dichloromethane mixture to obtain proton (H+)-conducting membranes, or activation with LiPF6/EC/DC liquid electrolyte to obtain lithium ion (Li+)-conducting membranes. The chemical structure of the obtained electrolyte membranes is verified by FT-IR spectroscopy. Differential scanning calorimetry is used to examine the changes in the crystallinity and the thermal properties of both electrolyte membranes during the preparation process. The thermal stability of both electrolyte membranes is also evaluated using thermal gravimetrical analysis. The obtained polymer electrolyte membranes achieve superior conductivity values: 1.61,×,10,3 S,·,cm,1 for Li+ and 5.95,×,10,2 S,·,cm,1 for H+ at room temperature at a polystyrene content of 50%. The results of this work suggest that high quality H+ - and Li+ -conducting membranes can be obtained using a single radiation-induced grafting method. Schematic representation of the single root for preparation of Li+ - and H+ -conducting membranes started by radiation-induced grafting of styrene onto a PVDF film followed by chemical treatment. [source]