No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

A synthetic strategy for the surface functionalization of ZrO2\ud nanoparticles was developed to obtain ceramic materials with\ud improved proton conductivity to be used as fillers in proton\ud conducting membranes for fuel cell applications. The procedure\ud consisted in condensation of the oxide surface hydroxyl groups\ud with 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxy silane, followed by oxidation of\ud the thiol group into sulfonic acid. The morphology, chemical\ud structure and composition of the functionalized oxide were\ud investigated by differential thermal analysis (DTA), Fourier\ud Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Field Emission\ud Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM). Thermal analysis\ud demonstrated the good thermal and hydrothermal stability of this\ud new material. The proton transport features of the oxide were\ud investigated by measuring ion exchange capacity (IEC) and proton\ud conductivity (σ), demonstrating that the surface functionalization\ud procedure enhanced the proton transport feature of zirconium\ud oxide