Article
  • Studies on the Preparation and Characterization of Poly(vinyl alcohol-co-styrenesulfonic acid)-Based Proton Exchange Membranes for Direct Methanol Fuel Cell

  • Rikarani R. Choudhury and Jaydevsinh M. Gohil*, **,†

  • Laboratory for Advanced Research in Polymeric Materials (LARPM), School for Advanced Research in Petrochemicals (SARP), Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering & Technology (CIPET), Bhubaneswar-751024, Odisha, India
    *Advanced Polymer Design and Development Research Laboratory (APDDRL), School for Advanced Research in Petrochemicals (SARP), Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering & Technology (CIPET), Bengaluru-562149, Karnataka, India
    **Advanced Research School for Technology and Product Simulation (ARSTPS), School for Advanced Research in Petrochemicals (SARP), Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering and Technology (CIPET), Chennai-600032, Tamil Nadu, India

  • 직접메탄올 연료전지를 위한 Poly(vinyl alcohol-co-styrenesulfonic acid) 기반의 양성자 교환막의 제법 및 특성 연구

  • Reproduction, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form of any part of this publication is permitted only by written permission from the Polymer Society of Korea.

Abstract

Development of proton conducting membrane electrolyte is one of the most important research area within the domain of direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). This study reports the preparation of glutaraldehyde-crosslinked poly(vinyl alcohol-co-styrenesulfonic acid) proton exchange membrane (PEM) for DMFC. In order to understand the effect of the extent of crosslinking on the PEM properties, varying concentration of glutaraldehyde was used. Key properties of PEMs such as water uptake, swelling behavior, ion-exchange capacity, proton conductivity, and methanol permeability were thoroughly analyzed. PEM formed using 0.5 M glutaraldehyde solution resulted in a crosslinked PEM with the moderate properties, such as swelling, water uptake, proton conductivity and mechanical strength, along with the exhibition of high proton conductivity and lower methanol permeability compared to commercial Nafion-117. In addition, optimized PEM produced a peak power density of 58 W/m2 at a current density of 300 A/m2, when DMFC fed with 2 M methanol solution at 60 °C.


Keywords: poly(vinyl alcohol-co-styrenesulfonic acid), glutaraldehyde, crosslinking, direct methanol fuel cell, proton exchange membrane, methanol permeability.

  • Polymer(Korea) 폴리머
  • Frequency : Bimonthly(odd)
    ISSN 0379-153X(Print)
    ISSN 2234-8077(Online)
    Abbr. Polym. Korea
  • 2023 Impact Factor : 0.4
  • Indexed in SCIE

This Article

  • 2022; 46(5): 627-639

    Published online Sep 25, 2022

  • 10.7317/pk.2022.46.5.627
  • Received on May 8, 2022
  • Revised on Jun 17, 2022
  • Accepted on Jun 21, 2022

Correspondence to

  • M. Gohil

  • *Advanced Polymer Design and Development Research Laboratory (APDDRL), School for Advanced Research in Petrochemicals (SARP), Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering & Technology (CIPET), Bengaluru-562149, Karnataka, India
    **Advanced Research School for Technology and Product Simulation (ARSTPS), School for Advanced Research in Petrochemicals (SARP), Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering and Technology (CIPET), Chennai-600032, Tamil Nadu, India

  • E-mail: jay21480@yahoo.co.in