Performance of composite SPEEK membranes for PEM Fuel Cell

Abstract

Fuel cells are making headlines across the globe in almost every area of power production and are now considered as reaching the threshold of commercialization. Nafion membrane, widely used in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC), possesses major drawbacks such as high cost and problem of dehydration at elevated temperatures. Alternative low priced sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) membranes have limited conductivity in a hydrogen — air fuel cell Therefore, there is need to develop less expensive and better performance membranes. In this work, solid proton conducting materials based on tungstophosphoric acid (TPA) and molybdophosphoric acid (MPA), supported onto Y-zeolite and MCM-41, were used to prepare composite SPEEK membranes. These membranes were tested in a fuel cell test station to evaluate their performance. The effects of variation of temperature and pressure on the performance of composite SPEEK membrane were investigated. These composite membranes were subjected to mechanical characterization. The composite SPEEK membranes exhibited better fuel cell performance than pure SPEEK membrane. Forty percent loading of TPA — MCM-41 into SPEEK polymer exhibited the best fuel cell performance amongst the different types of the composite membranes with varied degrees of loading. The performance of the polymer composite membrane improved with the increase in temperature and pressure. The incorporation of proton conductive fillers, however, deteriorated the mechanical properties of the membranes.