Recent advances in designing and tailoring nanofiber composite electrolyte membranes for high-performance proton exchange membrane fuel cells

As the critical component of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), proton exchange membrane (PEM) determine its overall performance. Current PEMs hardly meet the operating requirements of fuel cells, limiting their commercial applications. With the development of nanocomposite technology, nanofibers introduced into PEMs to prepare nanofiber composite proton exchange membranes (NCPEMs) have been widely studied. In an NCPEM, nanofibers can form long-range channels for proton transport, and reinforced skeleton to reach the target performance of PEMFCs. Focusing on NCPEM, this paper reviews on recent progresses in nanofiber preparation and NCPEM preparation techniques. Furthermore, different types of nanofibers incorporated into NCPEMs are reviewed in terms of fiber composition. The challenges and future perspectives regarding NCPEMs are also discussed. (c) 2021 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The article discusses the importance of proton exchange membrane (PEM) in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) and the current research status of preparing nanofiber composite proton exchange membranes (NCPEMs) using nanocomposite technology. By introducing nanofibers, long-range proton transport channels can be formed and the skeleton can be reinforced to improve the performance of PEMFCs.