Journal
POLYMERS FOR ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES
Volume 23, Issue 1, Pages 92-98Publisher
WILEY-BLACKWELL
DOI: 10.1002/pat.1828
Keywords
proton exchange membrane fuel cell; in situ sol-gel; Na?on; SiO2 composite membrane; SiO2 nano-particle; size effect
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Funding
- National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program) [2007AA05Z131]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [20206030]
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A novel technique in controlling the size of SiO2 nano-particles in the preparation of Nafion/SiO2 composite membranes via in situ solgel method, as well as the effects of nano-particle size on membrane properties and cell performance, is reported in this paper. Nafion/SiO2 composite membranes containing SiO2 nano-particles with four different diameters (5 +/- 0.5, 7 +/- 0.5, 10 +/- 1, and 15 +/- 2nm) are fabricated by altering the reactant concentrations during in situ solgel reaction. Sequentially, size effects of SiO2 nano-particles on membrane properties and cell performance are investigated by SEM/EDAX, TEM, TGA, mechanical tensile, and single cell tests, etc. The results suggest that 10nm is a critical diameter for SiO2 incorporated into Nafion matrix, exhibiting desirable physico-chemical properties for operation at elevated temperature and low humidity. At 110 degrees C and 59% RH, the output voltage of the cell equipped with Nafion/SiO2 (10nm) obtains an output voltage of 0.625V at 600mA/cm2, which is 50mV higher than that of unmodified Nafion. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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