Paper Title:

Nafion-Peptized Laponite Clay Nanocomposite Membrane for PEMFC

Periodical Advanced Materials Research (Volume 410)
Main Theme Processing and Fabrication of Advanced Materials
Edited by Alan K.T. Lau, T. S. Srivatsan, Debes Bhattacharyya, Ming Qiu Zhang and Mabel M. P. Ho
Pages 148-151
DOI 10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.410.148
Citation Ananta Kumar Mishra et al., 2011, Advanced Materials Research, 410, 148
Online since November, 2011
Authors Ananta Kumar Mishra, Seon Hyeong Bae, Nam Hoon Kim, Kin Tak Lau, Joong Hee Lee
Keywords Clay, Membrane, Nafion, Nanocomposite, Peptizer, Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (FEMFC), Proton Conductivity
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Abstract

Nafion-clay nanocomposite membrane has been prepared by dispersing unmodified and acid activated Laponite XLS in Nafion 20% dispersion. The resulting membranes possess better proton conductivity and mechanical strength as compared to the virgin membrane. Acid activation of the nanoclay leads to the in-situ generation of H3PO4 by the hydrolysis of the peptizer present on the surface of the nanoclay. The in-situ generated H3PO4 helps in improving all the technical properties of the nanocomposite including the water uptake and proton conductivity of the nanocomposite, containing acid activated clay compared to the nanocomposite, containing unmodified clay. The maximum proton conductivity of 270.2 mS/cm is achieved at 110 oC for the nanocomposite membrane containing 3% acid-activated Laponite compared to 136.2 mS/cm for the virgin Nafion. Keywords: Nafion, clay, nanocomposite, peptizer, polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (FEMFC), proton conductivity, membrane