Balancing dimensional stability and performance of proton exchange membrane using hydrophilic nanofibers as the supports

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• 作者：Zhengbang Wang^a ; ^b ; Haolin Tang^a ; ^{tanghaolin2005@yahoo.com.cn} ; ^{thln@whut.edu.cn} ; Junrui Li^a ; Aiping Jin^c ; ^{jinaiping2000@163.com} ; Zhao Wang^a ; Huijie Zhang^a ; Mu Pan^a
• 关键词：PEM fuel cell ; Proton exchange membrane ; Durability ; Humidity-induced stress ; Dynamic response
• 刊名：International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
• 出版年：2013
• 出版时间：15 April, 2013
• 年：2013
• 卷：38
• 期：11
• 页码：4725-4733
• 全文大小：1039 K

文摘

In this work, we developed a novel composite membrane by anchoring perfluorosulfonic acid into the hydrophilic poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanofibrous network which was synthesized by electrospinning method. It was clear that the PLGA/Nafion composite membranes possessed high Nafion loading, excellent dimensional stability and proton transport capacity. When the humidity of the membrane changed from soaking in water to 25?RH % at 90?¡ãC, the PLGA fiber network effectively controlled the swelling of Nafion resin and reduced the humidity-generated shrinkage stress from 2.2?MPa (Nafion211 membranes) to 0.5?MPa (PLGA/Nafion composite membranes). The proportion of humidity-induced stress to the yield strength was also reduced to 4.4 % , in comparison to 21.2 % of that of Nafion211 membrane. The area proton conductivity of the PLGA/Nafion composite membrane achieved 48.2?S?cm^?2, compared with 36.0?S?cm^?2 of Nafion211 membranes in the same condition. The excellent proton transport capacity greatly improved the performance of fuel cell assembled with PLGA/Nafion composite membranes and effectively reduced the dynamic response time from 22?s (Nafion211 membranes) to 7?s (PLGA/Nafion composite membranes).