Organic/TiO2 Nanocomposite Membranes: Recent Developments

Abstract

PrefaceOrganic-Inorganic Composite Polymer Electrolyte Membrane: Preparation, Properties and Fuel Cell Applications is intended to explore the recent developments in the area of polymer electrolyte membranes for high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. This book presents a unified viewpoint of the operating principles of fuel cells, fuel cells thermodynamics and efficiency, various methodologies used for the fabrication of polymer electrolyte membranes, issues related to the chemical and mechanical stabilities of the membranes. Special attention is paid to the fabrication of electrospun nanocomposite membranes.This book discusses the developments in the fast-growing and promising area of PEM materials obtained by using hygroscopic inorganic fillers, solid proton conductors, titanium oxide, zirconia and sulphated zirconia, silica, zeolite, montmorillonite, heterocyclic solvents, ionic liquids, anhydrous H 3 PO 4 blends, heteropolyacids, etc.This book is of great importance not only to the learners but also to the more experienced fuel cell researchers, enabling a deep understanding of the organic-inorganic membranes for fuel cells, methods for the fabrication of membranes as well as properties and applications. Based on thematic topics, the book edition contains the following 17 chapters:Chapter 1 deals with the use of ionic liquids (ILs) as fuel cell electrolytes. ILs with good mechanical properties and high conductivity has great potential to fabricate polymer membranes. This chapter focuses on the recent advances in the application of ionic liquid-based polymer membranes for the development of fuel cell technology. The key factors affecting membrane performance have been nicely discussed.In Chap. 2, a review on the recent developments about organic/TiO 2 nanocomposite membranes is presented. The unique properties, such as electrical property and processability together with thermal and chemical stabilities as well as high proton conductivity at high temperatures of organic-inorganic composite systems are highlighted. v vi Preface

Effect of Increased Ionic Liquid Uptake via Thermal Annealing on Mechanical Properties of Polyimide-Poly(ethylene glycol) Segmented Block Copolymer Membranes

“…There has been significant effort in recent years to develop PEMs that can operate efficiently at temperatures higher than 80 • C and low relative humidity [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Many attempts have been made to modify the structure of conventional Nafion membranes to improve their operational properties, e.g., by incorporating hygroscopic inorganic nanoparticles like SiO 2 , TiO 2 , and ZrO 2 [24][25][26]. There have also been extensive studies to synthesize entirely different materials from block or random copolymers, e.g., polystyrene sulfonate-block-polymethyl butylene (PSS-b-PMB) copolymers [11], chitosan/phosphotungstic acid [27], polyimides (PIs), and polyethylene glycol (PEG)-containing PI [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47].…”