Microstructural Characterisation of Zr-Phosphate-Nafion® Membranes for Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC) Applications

Title data

Bauer, Felix ; Willert-Porada, Monika:
Microstructural Characterisation of Zr-Phosphate-Nafion® Membranes for Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC) Applications.
In: Journal of Membrane Science. Vol. 233 (2004) Issue 1-2 . - pp. 141-149.
ISSN 0376-7388
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2004.01.010

Official URL:

Abstract in another language

Successful utilization of direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) technology is retarded by the lack of sufficient membrane materials. An improved performance of organic membranes containing inorganic fillers in hydrogen-fuel cells is known, however, microstructure--function relation of these materials is not yet well understood. In order to gain basic knowledge, the structural and functional properties of different Nafion 117 membranes filled with zirconium phosphate were studied by numerous techniques like, e.g. cryo scanning electron microscopy to estimate the water to acid group ratio as a function of zirconium phosphate concentration, dynamic mechanical analysis, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to localize the inorganic inclusion in the polymer and, finally, swelling kinetics in water and methanol to understand the effective solvent diffusion in hybrid membranes. The results show the water content of the membranes to be increased by the filler material, even at high concentrations of zirconium phosphate of five phosphoric acid groups per sulfonic acid group. The strong influence of the filler concentration on the mechanical loss and particularly on the glass transition as well as on crystallinity of the polymer back bone indicates major structural changes within the perfluorinated polymer due to the inorganic inclusions. From the solvent diffusion it could be shown, that zirconium phosphate selectively influences methanol diffusion and can act both as a stabilizer for the polymeric matrix and as a diffusion barrier for the methanol transport.

Further data

Item Type:	Article in a journal
Refereed:	Yes
Keywords:	Organic--inorganic hybrid membranes; Nafion; DMFC; Methanol permeation
Institutions of the University:	Faculties Faculties > Faculty of Engineering Science Faculties > Faculty of Engineering Science > Former Professors Faculties > Faculty of Engineering Science > Chair Electrochemical Process Engineering Faculties > Faculty of Engineering Science > Former Professors > Chair Electrochemical Process Engineering - Univ.-Prof. Dr. Monika Willert-Porada Profile Fields Profile Fields > Advanced Fields Profile Fields > Advanced Fields > Polymer and Colloid Science
Result of work at the UBT:	Yes
DDC Subjects:	500 Science > 500 Natural sciences 600 Technology, medicine, applied sciences > 620 Engineering
Date Deposited:	21 Jun 2017 09:42
Last Modified:	30 Apr 2024 10:26
URI:	https://eref.uni-bayreuth.de/id/eprint/11785