Composite Membranes Using Hydrophilized Porous Substrates for Hydrogen Based Energy Conversion

Seohee Lim and Jin-Soo Park
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Seohee Lim: Department of Green Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, Sangmyung University, Cheonan 31066, Korea
Jin-Soo Park: Department of Green Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, Sangmyung University, Cheonan 31066, Korea

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 22, 1-14

Abstract: Poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) porous substrate-reinforced composite membranes for energy conversion technologies are prepared and characterized. In particular, we develop a new hydrophilic treatment method by in-situ biomimetic silicification for PTFE substrates having high porosity (60–80%) since it is difficult to impregnate ionomer into strongly hydrophobic PTFE porous substrates for the preparation of composite membranes. The thinner substrate having ~5 μm treated by the gallic acid/(3-trimethoxysilylpropyl)diethylenetriamine solution with the incubation time of 30 min shows the best hydrophilic treatment result in terms of contact angle. In addition, the composite membranes using the porous substrates show the highest proton conductivity and the lowest water uptake and swelling ratio. Membrane-electrode assemblies (MEAs) using the composite membranes (thinner and lower proton conductivity) and Nafion 212 (thicker and higher proton conductivity), which have similar areal resistance, are compared in I–V polarization curves. The I–V polarization curves of two MEAs in activation and Ohmic region are very identical. However, higher mass transport limitation is observed for Nafion 212 since the composite membrane with less thickness than Nafion 212 would result in higher back diffusion of water and mitigate cathode flooding.

Keywords: composite membrane; perfluorinated sulfonic acid; ionomer; electrolyte; fuel cell (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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