Inorganic-organic membranes based on Nafion, [(ZrO₂)路(HfO₂)_0.25] and [(SiO₂)路(HfO₂)_0.28]. Part I: Synthesis, thermal stability and performance in a single PEMFC

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• 作者：Vito Di Noto^a ; ^b ; ¹ ; ^{vito.dinoto@unipd.it} ; Nicola Boaretto^a ; Enrico Negro^a ; Guinevere A. Giffin^a ; Sandra Lavina^a ; Stefano Polizzi^c
• 关键词：Hybrid inorganic&ndash ; organic proton-conducting membranes ; Nafion ; Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells ; Water uptake ; Thermogravimetric measurements ; Fabrication and testing of membrane-electrode assemblies
• 刊名：International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
• 出版年：2012
• 期刊代码：42_03603199
• 类别：ch
• 出版时间：April, 2012
• 卷：37
• 期：7
• 页码：6199-6214
• 文件大小：2225 K

摘要

This work reports the preparation, characterization and test in a single fuel cell of two families of hybrid inorganic-organic proton-conducting membranes, each based on Nafion and a different 鈥渃ore-shell鈥?nanofiller. Nanofillers, based on either a ZrO₂ 鈥渃ore鈥?covered with a HfO₂ 鈥渟hell鈥?(ZrHf) or a HfO₂ 鈥渃ore鈥?solvated by a 鈥渟hell鈥?of SiO₂ nanoparticles (SiHf), are considered. The two families of membranes are labelled [Nafion/(ZrHf)_x] and [Nafion/(SiHf)_x], respectively. The morphology of the nanofillers is investigated with high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and electron diffraction (ED) measurements. The mass fractions of nanofiller x used for both families are 0.05, 0.10 or 0.15. The proton exchange capacity (PEC) and the water uptake (WU) of the hybrid membranes are determined. The thermal stability is investigated by high-resolution thermogravimetric measurements (TGA). Each membrane is used in the fabrication of a membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) that is tested in single-cell configuration under operating conditions. The polarization curves are determined by varying the activity of the water vapour (a_H2O) and the back pressure of the reagent streams. A coherent model is proposed to correlate the water uptake and proton conduction of the hybrid membranes with the microscopic interactions between the Nafion host polymer and the particles of the different 鈥渃ore-shell鈥?nanofillers.