Synthesis and Characterization of Novel Green Hybrid Nanocomposites for Application as Proton Exchange Membranes in Direct Borohydride Fuel Cells

Marwa H. Gouda, Noha A. Elessawy and Diogo M.F. Santos
Additional contact information
Marwa H. Gouda: Polymer Materials Research Department, Advanced Technology and New Materials Research Institute (ATNMRI), City of Scientific Research and Technological Applications (SRTA-City), New Borg Al-Arab City, Alexandria 21934, Egypt
Noha A. Elessawy: Polymer Materials Research Department, Advanced Technology and New Materials Research Institute (ATNMRI), City of Scientific Research and Technological Applications (SRTA-City), New Borg Al-Arab City, Alexandria 21934, Egypt
Diogo M.F. Santos: Center of Physics and Engineering of Advanced Materials (CeFEMA), Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 5, 1-15

Abstract: Organic–inorganic nanocomposite membranes for potential application in direct borohydride fuel cells (DBFCs) are formulated from sulfonated poly(vinyl alcohol) (SPVA) with the incorporation of (PO 4 -TiO 2 ) and (SO 4 -TiO 2 ) nanotubes as doping agents. The functionalization of PVA to SPVA was done by using a 4-sulfophthalic acid as an ionic crosslinker and sulfonating agent. Morphological and structural characterization by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed the successful synthesis of the doping agents and their incorporation into the polymer. The influence of PO 4 -TiO 2 and SO 4 -TiO 2 doping and their content on the physicochemical properties of the nanocomposite membranes was evaluated. Swelling degree and water uptake gradually reduced to 7% and 13%, respectively, with increasing doping agent concentration. Ion exchange capacity and ionic conductivity of the membrane with 3 wt.% doping agents were raised 5 and 7 times, respectively, compared to the undoped one. The thermal and oxidative stability and tensile strength also increased with the doping content. Furthermore, lower borohydride permeability (0.32 × 10 −6 cm 2 s −1 ) was measured for the membranes with higher amount of inorganic doping agents when compared to the undoped membrane (0.71 × 10 −5 cm 2 s −1 ) and Nafion ® 117 (0.40 × 10 −6 cm 2 s −1 ). These results pave the way for a green, simple and low-cost approach for the development of composite membranes for practical DBFCs.

Keywords: poly (vinyl alcohol); sulfated titanium oxide nanotubes; phosphated titanium oxide; polymer electrolyte membrane; direct borohydride 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)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/5/1180/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/5/1180/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:5:p:1180-:d:328479

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().