Proton and methanol transport behavior of SPEEK/TPA/MCM-41 composite membranes for fuel cell application

This paper reports proton and methanol transport behavior of composite membranes prepared for use in the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). The composite membranes were prepared by embedding various proportions (10–30 wt.%) of inorganic proton conducting material (tungstophosphoric acid (TPA)/MCM-41) into sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) polymer matrix. The results indicate that the proton conductivity of the membranes increases with increasing loading of solid proton conducting material. The highest conductivity value of 2.75 mS/cm was obtained for the SPEEK composite membrane containing 30 wt.% solid proton conducting material (50 wt.% TPA in MCM-41). The methanol permeability and crossover flux were also found to increase with increasing loading of the solid proton conducting material. Lowest permeability value of 5.7 × 10⁻⁹ cm² s⁻¹ was obtained for composite membrane with 10 wt.% of the solid proton conducting material (40 wt.% TPA in MCM-41). However, all the composite membranes showed higher selectivity (ratio between the proton conductivity and the methanol permeability) compared to the pure SPEEK membrane. In addition, the membranes are thermally stable up to 160 °C. Thus, these membranes have potential to be considered for use in direct methanol fuel cell.