An efficient composite membrane to improve the performance of PEM reversible fuel cells

The aim of this study is to develop composite Nafion/GO membranes, varying GO loading, to be used in a Unitized reversible fuel cell comparing its performance with the baseline Nafion. Water uptake, ion exchange capacity (IEC), tensile strength, and SEM (scanning electron microscope) analysis are discussed. The SEM analysis revealed how the GO is homogeneously disposed into the Nafion matrix. The addition of GO improves the membrane tensile strength while reducing the elongation ratio. Water uptake, IEC enhance with the increasing of GO content. Regarding fuel cell mode, the performance is analysed using a polarization curve on a MEA with an effective area of 9 cm2. The composite membrane demonstrated higher mechanical strength, enhanced water uptake so higher performance in fuel cell mode. Despite the power absorbed from the electrolysis is higher when using a composite membrane, the beneficial effect in FC mode resulted in a slightly higher round trip efficiency. The GO-Nafion membrane was not able to maintain its performance with increasing the operating time, so potentially leading to a lower lifetime than the Nafion bare.

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Effect of Solution Casting Temperature on Characteristic of Nafion®-Mordenite Composite Membrane for Direct Methanol Fuel Cell

Applied Mechanics and Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amm.666.3 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 666 ◽

pp. 3-7

Author(s):

Theampetch Apichaya ◽

Paweena Prapainainar ◽

Chaiwat Prapainainar

Keyword(s):

Fuel Cell ◽

Ion Exchange ◽

Composite Membrane ◽

Direct Methanol Fuel Cell ◽

Composite Membranes ◽

Exchange Capacity ◽

Solution Casting ◽

Ion Exchange Capacity ◽

Direct Methanol ◽

Methanol Fuel Cell

In this paper, proton conducting composite membranes of Nafion®-mordenite for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) were prepared using solution casting method. Mordenite, used as inorganic filler, was incorporated into Nafion polymer in order to improve membrane properties for DMFC application. Effect of solution casting temperature on resulting composite membranes was focused. The temperature of the membrane preparation was varied from 80 to 120°C. Properties and morphology of the resulting membranes including solubility, water uptake, ion – exchange capacity were investigated and reported. It was found that composite membrane prepared at 100°C gave the most alcohol resistance and mechanical stability membrane with 0.59% soluble. Furthermore, it gave highest ion – exchange capacity, 0.10 meq⋅g-1, which is 33% and 98% higher than the membranes prepared at 80°C and 120°C respectively.

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Preparation and Characterization of Alkaline Anion Exchange Membrane for Fuel Cells Application

Journal of Nanotechnology ◽

10.1155/2017/3701378 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 2017 ◽

pp. 1-10 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Ganmin Zeng ◽

Jing Han ◽

Beibei Dai ◽

Xiaohui Liu ◽

Jinkun Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Fuel Cells ◽

Anion Exchange ◽

Water Uptake ◽

Composite Membrane ◽

Composite Membranes ◽

Exchange Capacity ◽

Anion Exchange Membrane ◽

Ion Exchange Capacity ◽

Exchange Membrane

Alkaline anion exchange membrane (AAEM) plays an important role in the development of fuel cell. In this research, the electrostatic spinning technology was used to prepare AAEM. We use BC/TiO2 membrane as substrate by introduced quaternary ammonium groups to prepare BC/TiO2/CHPTAC (3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl trimethyl ammonium chloride) composite membranes. The as-prepared composite membrane was characterized by XRD, SEM, XPS, and TG methods. It was found that BC/TiO2/CHPTAC (0.05 g) membrane exhibited high thermal stability and better comprehensive performance. The degree of substitution (DS), water uptake, and ion-exchange capacity (IEC) of BC/TiO2/CHPTAC membranes were investigated. The results showed that the DS, water uptake, and IEC of BC/TiO2/CHPTAC membrane were 1.16, 140%, and 1 mmol·g−1, respectively. We believe this composite membrane with excellent performances can promise many applications in fuel cells.

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Evaluation of power generation and treatment efficiency of dairy wastewater in microbial fuel cell using TiO2 – SPEEK as proton exchange membrane

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.2021.467 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

D. Vidhyeswari ◽

A. Surendhar ◽

S. Bhuvaneshwari

Keyword(s):

Fuel Cell ◽

Ion Exchange ◽

Composite Membrane ◽

Proton Exchange Membrane ◽

Exchange Capacity ◽

Proton Exchange ◽

Uptake Capacity ◽

Ion Exchange Capacity ◽

Water Uptake Capacity ◽

Exchange Membrane

Abstract The aim of this study is to synthesis SPEEK composite proton exchange membrane with the addition of TiO2 nanofillers for microbial fuel cell application. SPEEK composite membrane with varying weight percentage of TiO2 (2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10%) was prepared to study the effect of TiO2 concentration on membrane performance. Synthesized composite membranes were subjected to various characterization studies such as FT-IR, XRD, Raman spectroscopy; TGA, UTM and SEM. Physico-chemical properties of membrane such as water uptake capacity, ion exchange capacity and thickness were also analyzed. 5% TiO2 – SPEEK composite membrane exhibited the higher water uptake capacity value and Ion exchange capacity value of 31% and 1.71 meq/g respectively. Performance of the MFC system with TiO2 – SPEEK membranes were evaluated and compared with the pristine SPEEK and Nafion membrane. 5% TiO2 – SPEEK membrane produced the higher power density (1.22 W/m2) and voltage (0.635 V) than the other membranes investigated. Efficacy of MFC in wastewater treatment was evaluated based on the chemical oxygen demand (COD), total organic carbon content and turbidity. Biofilm growth over the surface of the electrodes was also analyzed using scanning electron microscopy.

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Fabrication and Characterization of Low-Cost Poly(Vinyl Alcohol) Composite Membrane for Low Temperature Fuel Cell Application

Journal of Applied Membrane Science & Technology ◽

10.11113/amst.v22n1.128 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Ruhilin Nasser ◽

Siti Khadijah Hubadillah ◽

Mohd Hafiz Dzarfan Othman ◽

Arif Akmal Mohamed Hassan

Keyword(s):

Contact Angle ◽

Fuel Cell ◽

Proton Conductivity ◽

Water Uptake ◽

Composite Membrane ◽

Vinyl Alcohol ◽

Proton Exchange ◽

High Price ◽

Poly Vinyl Alcohol ◽

Weight Percentage

The urge to find alternative sources of energy is crucial as the source of fossil fuel shows a high number of depletion over the year. Compared to other alternatives sources, fuel cell is high at rank as it generates no harmful gases to the surrounding and high in efficiency. The performance of this fuel cell is affected by several factors and one of it is the permeability of proton exchange membrane (PEM). Nafion® is known to be used as the PEM in fuel cells, however due to its high price, polyvinyl alcohol membrane was selected in this study to substitute the Nafion® as it was low in price and excellent in chemical and mechanical strength. Poly (vinyl alcohol) composite membrane was prepared and crosslinked with sulfosuccinic acid (SSA). To further increase the proton conductivity of the membrane, graphene oxide (GO) with 1, 2 and 3 weight percentage was incorporated into the polymer membrane. All the membranes were characterized by using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), water uptake measurement, contact angle, ion exchange capacity and proton conductivity respectively. Synthesized membranes show low water uptake and contact angle as GO loading was increased. IEC value and water swelling were found to be increased with increasing of GO loading. The proton conductivity of the membrane increases as more GO was incorporated into PVA-SSA and achieved its highest conductivity at 0.020746 S cm-1 with 2 wt. % of GO incorporation.

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Mechanical Strength Of Nafion®/ZrO2 Nano-Composite Membrane

International Journal of Manufacturing Materials and Mechanical Engineering ◽

10.4018/ijmmme.2018010104 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 54-65 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Rudzani Sigwadi ◽

Fulufhelo Ṋemavhola ◽

Simon Dhlamini ◽

Touhani Mokrani

Keyword(s):

Tensile Strength ◽

Fuel Cell ◽

Mechanical Strength ◽

Composite Membrane ◽

Modulus Of Elasticity ◽

Mechanical Stability ◽

Composite Membranes ◽

Tensile Tests ◽

Impregnation Method ◽

Nano Composite

The mechanical stability of modified membranes has become a priority for fuel cell applications as the membranes must endure all the fuel cell operations (to prevent crossover of the fuel while still conducting). Their mechanical stress and yielding stress in the recast and impregnation methods compared with the commercial Nafion® membrane were observed under tensile tests. The modulus of elasticity of wet commercial Nafion117 membrane, Nafion®/ Zr-0, Nafion®/Zr-50 and Nafion®/ Zr-80 membranes and Nafion®/ Zr-100 nano-composite membrane using impregnation methods in the region between 0 and 0.23 strain were determined to be 4817.5 kPa, 2434.7 kPa, 1872.4 kPa, 2092.1 kPa and 2661.4 kPa respectively. The tensile strength of the dry nano-composite membrane prepared using the recast method is higher than the wet nano-composite membrane prepared using the recast methods. It was found that the impregnation method plays an important role in strengthening the nan-composite membranes.

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Synthesis and Characterization of Sulfonated Polybenzimidazole (SPBI) Copolymer for Polymer Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.860-863.803 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 860-863 ◽

pp. 803-806 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Loh Kee Shyuan ◽

Eng Lee Tan ◽

Wan Ramli Wan Daud ◽

Abu Bakar Mohamad

Keyword(s):

Fuel Cell ◽

Ion Exchange ◽

Proton Conductivity ◽

Water Uptake ◽

Uptake Rate ◽

Exchange Capacity ◽

Ion Exchange Capacity ◽

Phase Inversion Technique ◽

Sulfonated Polybenzimidazole ◽

Exchange Membrane

A diverse sulfonated polybenzimidazole copolymer (SPBI) as proton exchange membrane was synthesiszed via one-step high temperature polymerization method with 3,3-diaminobenzidine (DABD), 5-sulfoisophthalic acid (SIPA), 4,4-sulfonyldibenzoic acid (SDBA) and biphenyl-4,4-dicarboxylic acid (BDCA). The SPBI membrane was prepared through a direct hot-casting and in situ phase inversion technique. Characterization tests were carried out on the membranes including surface morphology, distribution of elements on the membrane, determination of functional groups, thermal stability, ion exchange capacity, water uptake rate and proton conductivity. The as-synthesized SPBI membrane displayed a smooth surface via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis which is thermally stable up to 443 °C. The SPBI membrane showed higher water uptake rate (WUR) and proton conductivity though it had lower ion exchange capacity (IEC) value compared to recast Nafion membrane. The proton conductivity of the SPBI membrane with IEC of 0.60 mmol/g was 4.50 × 10-2 S/cm at 90 °C. This study shows that the SPBI membrane has great potential in polymer exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) applications.

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PEMANFAATAN GLISERIN DARI RESIDU GLISERIN SEBAGAI PLASTICIZER UNTUK PEMBUATAN BIOPLASTIK DENGAN BAHAN BAKU PATI BONGGOL PISANG KEPOK

Jurnal Teknik Kimia USU ◽

10.32734/jtk.v5i4.1551 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

pp. 26-32 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Azaria Robiana ◽

M. Yashin Nahar ◽

Hamidah Harahap

Keyword(s):

Tensile Strength ◽

Hydrogen Bonding ◽

Fatty Acid ◽

Maximum Yield ◽

Sem Analysis ◽

Water Molecules ◽

Banana Weevil ◽

Gelatinization Temperature ◽

Recharge Area ◽

Maximum Quantity

Glycerin residue is waste oleochemical industry that still contain glycerin. To produce quality and maximum quantity of glycerin, then research the effect of pH acidification using phosphoric acid. Glycerin analysis includes the analysis of pH, Fatty Acid and Ester (FAE), and analysis of the levels of glycerin. The maximum yield obtained at pH acidification 2 is grading 91,60% glycerin and Fatty Acid and Ester (FAE) 3,63 meq/100 g. Glycerin obtained is used as a plasticizer in the manufacture of bioplastics. Manufacture of bioplastics using the method of pouring a solution with varying concentrations of starch banana weevil (5% w/v and 7% w/v), variations of the addition of glycerin (1 ml, 3 ml, 5 ml and 7 ml), and a variety of gelatinization temperature (60°C, 70°C, and 80°C). Analysis of bioplastics include FTIR testing, tensile strength that is supported by SEM analysis. The results obtained in the analysis of FTIR does not form a new cluster on bioplastics starch banana weevil, but only a shift in the recharge area only, it is due to the addition of O-H groups originating from water molecules that enter the polysaccharide through a mechanism gelatinitation that generates interaction hydrogen bonding strengthened. The maximum tensile strength of bioplastics produced at a concentration of starch 7% w/v, 1 ml glycerine and gelatinization temperature of 80°C is 3,430 MPa. While the tensile strength bioplastic decreased with increasing glycerin which can be shown from the results of SEM where there is a crack, indentations and lumps of starch insoluble.

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