Synthesis, spectroscopic and electrochemical characterization of hybrid membranes for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel
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Synthesis, spectroscopic and electrochemical characterization of hybrid membranes for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells. Maria Luisa Di Vona1, Debora Marani1, Alessandra D’Epifanio1, Enrico Traversa1, Marcella Trombetta2, Silvia Licoccia1, Stefano Caldarelli3, Philippe Knauth4 1 Department of Chemical Science and Technology, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Rome, Italy. 2 Interdisciplinary Center for Biomedical Research (CIR), Laboratory of Biomaterials, Università “Campus Bio-Medico”, via E. Longoni 83, 00155 Rome, Italy 3 TRACES (JE 2421), Université de Provence, Centre St Jérôme, 13397 Marseille Cedex 20, France. 4 MADIREL (UMR 6121 CNRS), Université de Provence, Centre St Jérôme, 13397 Marseille Cedex 20, France.
ABSTRACT Commercial polyether-etherketone was sulfonated and reacted with SiCl4 to obtain a hybrid polymer. Polymers having different inorganic content were characterized by 29Si NMR, ATR/FTIR spectroscopies and mass spectrometry (FAB-MS) demonstrating the formation of covalent bonds between the organic and inorganic components and the absence of dispersed inorganic silicon. The physicochemical properties of the hybrids were suitable for the preparation of membranes which showed sufficiently high conductivity values to make them promising candidates for application in PEMFCs.
INTRODUCTION Recently, interest in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) has increased sharply and research efforts directed towards commercialization have accelerated. PEMFCs are, in fact, an attractive option for a wide range of applications, including vehicle power sources, distributed power and heat production, and even portable and mobile systems. The key component of this type of fuel cell, the polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM), acts as both a separator and an electrolyte. The membranes must have high ionic conductivity and zero electronic conductivity, high mechanical strength, low gas permeability, high cation transport number, temperature stability at the cell operating-temperature, acceptable water transport characteristics, and, ideally, be easy and inexpensive to manufacture. Although many polymeric membranes have been investigated over the years, most commercial systems today use Nafion®, a perfluorinated sulfonic acid based polymer. Nafion® remains the industry standard, but it has the drawbacks of being expensive to produce and to require heat, high pressure and a high hydration level to work effectively.1,2 Thus, the main drive of research on membranes for fuel cell applications is to develop materials that are cost effective to produce and can operate in low pressure and at temperatures above 100°C.3-5 In the present work, we focused on the preparation of organic-inorganic class II hybrid materials, i.e. species where the two components are held together by chemical bonds. Such hybrids are based on polyether-etherketone (PEEK) as the organic backbone. PEEK is a fully aromatic
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polymer, commercially available, with good thermal stability an
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