A facile method to construct highly efficient methanol resistive polyamide-based proton exchange membrane

A highly efficient methanol resistive organic organic hybrid polyamide proton exchange membrane was prepared via a facile method and the proton conductive channels (PCCs) in the membrane were optimized to adjust the proton conductivity, mechanical stability and methanol permeability. The hybrid membrane with the optimized PCCs exhibits remarkable proton conductivity of 0.232 S/cm at 80 degrees C, much higher than the value of a Nafion 117 membrane (0.192 S/cm). At the same time, the methanol permeability of the optimized membrane becomes as low as 6.21 x 10(-7) cm(2)/s, one order of magnitude smaller than that of the Nafion 117 membrane. The tensile strength of the membrane is 13 MPa, comparable to that of the Nafion 117 membrane. This hybrid membrane is therefore promising for applications in direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). (C) 2016 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.