Characterization of sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone)/silane nanocomposite membrane for high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells.

The perfluorosulfonic acid polymer membrane is most widely used in PEMFCs. However, its some major drawbacks like high cost and performance limitation at high temperature are obstacles of its commercialization. The goal of this study was to develop low cost membranes which have good conductivity in the range of PEMFCs operating temperature. We fabricated new sPEEK/3-APTES nanocomposite membrane where inorganic particles were chemically bonded to sulfuric acid group of sPEEK. PEEK is a thermally stable, mechanically tough and very cheap polymer. And the addition of 3-APTES and phosphorous acid increased the proton conductivity of composite membranes at high temperatures. This nanocomposite membranes maintained good conductivity at 110 degrees C.