Fabrication and comprehensive investigation of physicochemical and electrochemical properties of chitosan-silica supported silicotungstic acid nanocomposite membranes for fuel cell applications

Vijayalekshmi V. and Dipak Khastgir

Energy, 2018, vol. 142, issue C, 313-330

Abstract: Polymer electrolyte membranes based on organic – inorganic nanocomposites consisting of chitosan and silica supported silicotungstic acid (IHPA) are developed using simple solution casting technique. Compared to pristine chitosan membranes, IHPA incorporated membranes exhibit higher thermal, mechanical, oxidative stabilities and better membrane selectivity due to the strong electrostatic interaction and hydrogen bonding between the polymer, cross linking agent and IHPA nanoparticles. IHPA provides efficient hopping sites which allow the formation of conducting channels, which thereby facilitates the proton conduction under both dry and hydrated conditions significantly. Nanocomposite membrane filled with 5 wt% IHPA has the highest proton conductivity of 9.0 × 10−3 S cm−1 at 100 °C. All the prepared CS-IHPA nanocomposite membranes exhibit better stability against oxidative degradation, water uptake and retention ability, proton conductivity and membrane selectivity. CS-IHPA-5 membrane exhibits the best overall performance as a membrane, which is mainly due to the strong interactions between chitosan matrix and IHPA. CS-IHPA-3 membrane shows high OCV (0.73 V) and maximum power density (54.2 mW cm−2) compared to the other membranes. The present study provides a promising strategy for the design and fabrication of high performance polymer electrolyte membranes for fuel cell applications, which is cost effective and eco-friendly.

Keywords: Chitosan; Heteropoly acid; Polymer electrolyte membrane; Proton conductivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:142:y:2018:i:c:p:313-330

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2017.10.019

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