Fumed Silica Nanoparticles Incorporated in Quaternized Poly(Vinyl Alcohol) Nanocomposite Membrane for Enhanced Power Densities in Direct Alcohol Alkaline Fuel Cells

Selvaraj Rajesh Kumar, Cheng-Hsin Juan, Guan-Ming Liao, Jia-Shiun Lin, Chun-Chen Yang, Wei-Ting Ma, Jiann-Hua You and Shingjiang Jessie Lue
Additional contact information
Selvaraj Rajesh Kumar: Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Chang Gung University, Kwei-shan, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan
Cheng-Hsin Juan: Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Chang Gung University, Kwei-shan, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan
Guan-Ming Liao: Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Chang Gung University, Kwei-shan, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan
Jia-Shiun Lin: Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Chang Gung University, Kwei-shan, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan
Chun-Chen Yang: Department of Chemical Engineering, Mingchi University of Technology, Tai-shan, New Taipei City 243, Taiwan
Wei-Ting Ma: Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Chang Gung University, Kwei-shan, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan
Jiann-Hua You: Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Chang Gung University, Kwei-shan, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan
Shingjiang Jessie Lue: Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Chang Gung University, Kwei-shan, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan

Energies, 2015, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-19

Abstract: A nanocomposite polymer membrane based on quaternized poly(vinyl alcohol)/fumed silica (QPVA/FS) was prepared via a quaternization process and solution casting method. The physico-chemical properties of the QPVA/FS membrane were investigated. Its high ionic conductivity was found to depend greatly on the concentration of fumed silica in the QPVA matrix. A maximum conductivity of 3.50 × 10 ?2 S/cm was obtained for QPVA/5%FS at 60 °C when it was doped with 6 M KOH. The permeabilities of methanol and ethanol were reduced with increasing fumed silica content. Cell voltage and peak power density were analyzed as functions of fumed silica concentration, temperature, methanol and ethanol concentrations. A maximum power density of 96.8 mW/cm 2 was achieved with QPVA/5%FS electrolyte using 2 M methanol + 6 M KOH as fuel at 80 °C. A peak power density of 79 mW/cm 2 was obtained using the QPVA/5%FS electrolyte with 3 M ethanol + 5 M KOH as fuel. The resulting peak power densities are higher than the majority of published reports. The results confirm that QPVA/FS exhibits promise as a future polymeric electrolyte for use in direct alkaline alcoholic fuel cells.

Keywords: fumed silica; quaternized poly(vinyl alcohol); ionic conductivity; methanol; ethanol; cell performance (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: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/9/1/15/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/9/1/15/ (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:9:y:2015:i:1:p:15-:d:61353

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 ().