methanol crossover of nafion-clay-heteropolyacid nanocomposite membranes for direct methanol fuel cell applications

Nafion-cesium salt of heteropolyacid- proton exchange membrane containing clay was prepared via solution casting method for direct methanol fuel cell applications. The XRD analysis was conducted to characterize the nanocomposite membrane structure. Methanol crossover through polymer electrolyte membranes is a critical issue and causes an important reduction of performance in direct methanol fuel cells. In this work cesium hydrogen salt of heteropolyacid (Cs2.5H0.5PW12O40) are incorporated into K10 type of montmorillonite in an effort to improve the selectivity of Nafion membrane. Methanol permeability of casted membranes was measured by refractive index method. Results show all composite membranes have lower methanol permeability than the recast Nafion membrane. The lowest methanol permeability of the developed membranes in this study was 16.51×10-7 cm2S-1 which was lower than recast Nafion membrane