3DOM Silica Composite Membrane Including a Binary Polymer Electrolyte for DMFC

• Published in: ECS transactions Vol. 11; no. 1; pp. 89 - 96
• Main Authors: Munakata, Hirokazu, Sasajima, Keiji, Kanamura, Kiyoshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 28.09.2007
• ISSN: 1938-5862; 1938-6737
• DOI: 10.1149/1.2780918

3DOM silica composite membrane including a binary polymer (PAMPS-SPEES) was fabricated, in which the pore surface was coated with SPEES and the vacant space was occupied by PAMPS. The methanol permeability of composite membrane was successfully reduced from 1.9 x 10 -6 cm 2 s -1 to 3.2 x 10 -7 cm 2 s -1 at 30 {degree sign}C by the stepwise filling of SPEES and then PAMPS. On the other hand, the proton conductivity was not significantly influenced by the filling stage, and relatively high values (6.1~7.3 x 10 -2 S cm -1 at 30 {degree sign}C in 100% RH) were obtained. This result suggests that the interface region between silica and SPEES have high transfer of protons. Consequently, the PAMPS-SPEES-3DOM composite membrane exhibited more than ten times higher performance than Nafion ® as DMFC electrolyte membrane.