Novel PVA/La2Ce2O7 hybrid nanocomposite membranes for application in proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Chemistry, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

2 Department of Chemistry, Naragh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Naragh, Iran

Abstract

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are electrochemical devices that show the highest power densities compared to the other type of fuel cell. In this work, nanocomposite membranes used for proton exchange membrane fuel cells as poly(vinyl alcohol)/La2Ce2O7 (PVA-LC) with the aim of increasing the water uptake and proton conductivity. Glutaraldehyde (GA) was used as cross linking agent of PVA matrix. PVA-LC nanocomposite membranes have been prepared with solutions casting method. The significant improvement has been achieved via the synergetic combination of organic and inorganic phases. Nanocomposite membranes were structurally, morphologically and electrochemically considered by FTIR, SEM and ELS, respectively. The results exhibited that the proton conductivity and the water uptake of the nanocomposite membranes were higher than that of the PVA membrane. PVA-LC nanocomposite membranes containing 4 wt.% of La2Ce2O7 nanoparticles displayed a high proton conductivity (0.019 S/cm). The highest peak power density of the PEMFC using PVA-LC nanocomposite membrane at ambient temperature was 19 mW/cm2. The proposed PVA-LC nanocomposite membranes appear to be a viable candidate for future PEMFCs applications.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

Andujar J, Segura F, “Fuel cells History and updating. A walk along two centuries, “Renewable and Sustainable Energy”, 2009, 13: 2309.
2. Diaz M, Ortiz A, Vilas M, Tojo E, Vilas M, Ortiz I, “Performance of PEMFC with new polyvinyl-ionic liquids based membranes as electrolytes”, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 2014, 39: 3970.
3. Thanganathan U, Parrondo J, Rambabu B, “Nanocomposite hybrid membranes containing polyvinyl alcohol or poly(tetramethylene oxide) for fuel cell applications”, J. Appl. Electrochem, 2011, 41: 617.
4. Wu Y, Wu C, Li Y, Fu Y, “PVA–silica anion-exchange hybrid membranes prepared through a copolymer crosslinking agent”, J. Membr. Sci, 2010, 350: 322.
5. Xu W, Liu C, Xue X, Su Y, Lv Y and Xing W, “New proton exchange membranes based on poly (vinyl alcohol) for DMFCs”, Solid State Ionics, 2004, 171: 121.
6. Yang CC and Lee YJ, “Preparation of the acidic PVA/MMT nanocomposite polymer membrane for the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC)”, Thin Solid Films, 2009, 517: 4735.
7. Beydaghi H, Javanbakht M, Salar Amoli H, Badiei H, Khaniani Y and Ganjali MR, “Synthesis and characterization of new proton conducting hybrid membranes for PEM fuel cells based on poly (vinyl alcohol) and nanoporous silica containing phenyl sulfonic acid”, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 2010, 36: 13310.
8. Salarizadeh P, Javanbakht M, Abdollahi M and Naji L, “Preparation, characterization and properties of proton exchange nanocomposite membranes based on poly(vinyl alcohol) and poly(sulfonic acid)-grafted silica nanoparticles”, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 2013, 38: 5473.
9. Hooshyari Kh, Javanbakht M, Naji L and Enhessari M, “Nanocomposite proton exchange membranes based on Nafion containing Fe2TiO5 nanoparticles in water and alcohol environments for PEMFC”, J. Membr. Sci, 2014, 454: 74.
10. Litao Y, Wenping S, Lei B, Shumin F, Zetian T and Wei L, “Effect of Sm-doping on the hydrogen permeation of Ni-La2Ce2O7 mixed protonic electronic conductor”, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 2010, 35: 4508.
11. Wen M, Shengkai G, Huibin X and Xueqiang C, “On improving the phase stability and thermal expansion coefficients of lanthanum cerium oxide solid solutions”, Scripta Mater, 2006, 54: 1505.
12. Xu Z, He L, Mu R, He S, Huang G and Cao X, “Double-ceramic-layer thermal barrier coatings based on La2(Zr0.7 Ce0.3)2O7/La2Ce2O7 deposited by electron beam-physical vapor deposition”, Appl. Surf. Sci, 2010, 256: 3661.
13. Enhessari M, Ozaee K, Shaterian M and Karamali E, “Strontium cerate nanoparticle synthesis method”, US Patent 512 654.
14. Qiao J, Hamaya T and Okada T, “New highly proton-conducting membrane poly(vinylpyrrolidone)(PVP) modified poly(vinyl alcohol)/2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid (PVA–PAMPS) for low temperature direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs)”, Polym. J, 2005, 46: 10809.
15. Zuo CD, Lee TH, Song SJ, Chen L, Dorris SE and Balachandran U, “Hydrogen permeation and chemical stability of cermet Ni-Ba [Zr0.8x CexY 0.2]O3 Membranes”, Electrochem Solid State Lett, 2005, 8: 35.
16. Andersson D, Simak, Skorodumova Natalia N, AbrikosovIgor A, Johansson B, “Optimization of ionic conductivity in doped ceria”, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA ,2006, 103: 3518.
Hydrogen, Fuel Cell & Energy Storage
Volume 1, Issue 2 - Serial Number 2
April 2014
Pages 105-112

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics