Acta Phys. -Chim. Sin. ›› 2011, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (08): 1886-1892.doi: 10.3866/PKU.WHXB20110737

• ELECTROCHEMISTRY AND NEW ENERGY • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Properties of SPES/AlOOH Composite Proton Exchange Membranes

WEN Sheng1,3, GONG Chun-Li3, TSAI Fang-Chang1, YEH Jen-Taut1,2   

  1. 1. Faculty of Material Science and Engineering, Hubei University, Wuhan 430062, P. R. China;
    2. Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan 430073, P. R. China;
    3. Faculty of Chemistry and Materials Science, Xiaogan University, Xiaogan 432000, Hubei Province, P. R. China
  • Received:2011-03-01 Revised:2011-04-15 Published:2011-07-19
  • Contact: YEH Jen-Taut E-mail:jyeh@mail.ntust.edu.tw
  • Supported by:

    The project was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province, China (2010CDB00301).

Abstract:

Novel sulfonated polyether sulfone (SPES)/AlOOH organic/inorganic composite membranes were prepared by doping SPES with AlOOH, which lowered the methanol crossover and increased the proton conductivity at high temperatures. The structure and performance of the obtained membranes were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) etc. Compared with the pure SPES membrane the composite membranes had higher thermal stability and water uptake. The morphology of the composite membranes indicated that AlOOH was uniformly distributed throughout the SPES matrix. The network-like structure began to form when the AlOOH content was around 10%. The proton conductivity was still ca 0.014 S·cm-1 even at a temperature as high as 120 °C. Additionally, the methanol resistance improved greatly as the content of AlOOH increased. The SPES/AlOOH composite membrane is a promising candidate for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) applications.

Key words: Sulfonated poly(ether sulfone), AlOOH, Composite membrane, Direct methanol fuel cell