TY - JOUR
T1 - Alkyl chain modified sulfonated poly(ether sulfone) for fuel cell applications
AU - Krishnan, N. Nambi
AU - Henkensmeier, Dirk
AU - Jang, Jong Hyun
AU - Kim, Hyoung Juhn
AU - Ha, Heung Yong
AU - Nam, Suk Woo
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by KIST's e-bank program and the Joint Research Project funded by the Korea Research Council of Fundamental Science & Technology (KRCF) , Republic of Korea (seed-10-2).
Copyright:
Copyright 2013 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2013/2/27
Y1 - 2013/2/27
N2 - A new alkyl chain modified sulfonated poly(ether sulfone) (mPES) was synthesized and formed into membranes. The MEAs were tested in the PEMFC and evaluated systematically in the DMFC by varying the methanol concentration from 0.5 to 5.0 M at 60 °C and 70 °C. The synthesized mPES copolymer has been characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and gel permeation chromatography. The proton conductivity of the resulting membrane is higher than the threshold value of 10-2 S cm-1 at room temperature for practical PEM fuel cells. The membrane is insoluble in boiling water, thermally stable until 250 °C and shows low methanol permeability. In the H2/air PEMFC at 70 °C, a current density of 600 mA cm -2 leads to a potential of 637 mV and 658 mV for 50 μm thick mPES 60 and Nafion NRE 212, respectively. In the DMFC, mPES 60's methanol crossover current density is 4 times lower than that for Nafion NRE 212, leading to higher OCV values and peak power densities. Among all investigated conditions and materials, the highest peak power density of 120 mW cm-2 was obtained with an mPES 60 based MEA at 70 °C and a methanol feed of 2 M.
AB - A new alkyl chain modified sulfonated poly(ether sulfone) (mPES) was synthesized and formed into membranes. The MEAs were tested in the PEMFC and evaluated systematically in the DMFC by varying the methanol concentration from 0.5 to 5.0 M at 60 °C and 70 °C. The synthesized mPES copolymer has been characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and gel permeation chromatography. The proton conductivity of the resulting membrane is higher than the threshold value of 10-2 S cm-1 at room temperature for practical PEM fuel cells. The membrane is insoluble in boiling water, thermally stable until 250 °C and shows low methanol permeability. In the H2/air PEMFC at 70 °C, a current density of 600 mA cm -2 leads to a potential of 637 mV and 658 mV for 50 μm thick mPES 60 and Nafion NRE 212, respectively. In the DMFC, mPES 60's methanol crossover current density is 4 times lower than that for Nafion NRE 212, leading to higher OCV values and peak power densities. Among all investigated conditions and materials, the highest peak power density of 120 mW cm-2 was obtained with an mPES 60 based MEA at 70 °C and a methanol feed of 2 M.
KW - Alkyl chain modification
KW - Direct methanol fuel cell
KW - Fuel cell membrane
KW - Poly(ether sulfone)
KW - Proton exchange membrane fuel cell
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2012.12.008
DO - 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2012.12.008
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84873167866
VL - 38
SP - 2889
EP - 2899
JO - International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
JF - International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
SN - 0360-3199
IS - 6
ER -
