Sulfonated PVA / PBI Based Crosslinked Composites Towards Anhydrous Proton Conductive Polymer Electrolyte Membranes for Fuel Cells

摘要

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are being considered as highly promising futureenergy source due to their high-energy conversion efficiency and their ability to address theenvironmental concerns related to current energy production. Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) isrecognized as the key element for an efficient PEMFC. Chemically cross-linked composite membranesconsisting of a sulfonated poly(vinyl alcohol) and polybenzimidazole have been prepared by solutioncasting and were evaluated as proton conducting polymer electrolytes for fuel cell application. All theraw materials used for the preparation of these membranes are environment friendly and thesecomposite membranes are expected to provide the requisite properties for their successful applicationin fuel cells for energy production specifically owing to their high proton conductivity without muchreliance on membrane hydration and low methanol permeability. The best resistance to methanol-8 2 permeability was observed to be in the order of 10 cm /s and the best proton conductivity was-3 observed to be in the order of 10 S/cm for the prepared PEMs.