Preliminary Study on the Development of Sulfonated Graphene Oxide Membranes as Potential Novel Electrolytes for PEM Fuel Cells

Latorrata, Saverio; Peressut, Andrea Basso; Stampino, Paola Gallo; Cristiani, Cinzia; Dotelli, Giovanni

doi:10.1149/08613.0347ecst

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Virgin GO membranes have been produced with a well-established procedure within our research group [42]. 25 mL of the dispersion, containing 100 mg of GO, have been placed into a beaker and subjected to 1 h of an ultrasound bath in the LABSONIC LBS 1-H3 by Falc Instruments S.r.l., so as to improve its homogeneity.…”

Section: Membranes Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of self-assembling sulfonated graphene oxide membranes as a potential proton conductor

Peressut

Latorrata

Stampino

et al. 2021

Materials Chemistry and Physics

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A simple method is reported for the preparation of selfassembling sulfonated graphene oxide membranes (SGO-X) to be studied as a potential proton conductor for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). The effect of three different sulfuric acid-to-GO molar ratios is investigated, the main aim being the identification of an optimal sulfonation interval ensuring a successful trade-off among composition, structural stability and functional properties. ATR-FTIR and EDX spectroscopies, SEM, thermogravimetry and static contact angle measurements allow to analyze the efficacy of the functionalization of graphene oxide (GO) with sulfonic acid groups (-SO3H) and the uniformity of the component's structure. A preliminary examination of the proton conductivity is performed on the most promising samples (SGO-1, SGO-20) by means of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), together with the evaluation of water uptake, ion exchange capacity and degree of sulfonation. This introductory work demonstrates that the proposed SGO-X membranes exhibit notable water-retaining and proton-exchanging properties at elevated temperatures and reduced humidity, compared to pristine GO and Nafion® 212 benchmark specimens. Therefore, these innovative self-standing materials are proved to be worthy of additional studies for the optimization of their features, foreseeing the assessment of their behavior as a possible electrolyte in a PEM fuel cell.

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Section: Membranes Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of self-assembling sulfonated graphene oxide membranes as a potential proton conductor

Peressut

Latorrata

Stampino

et al. 2021

Materials Chemistry and Physics

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“…Thus, this condition is reflected by the reduction of crystalline phase in the composite membrane due to the dispersion of inorganic filler that restricted the crystal growth of CS/SPVA while interacting with the polymer segment and forming strong interaction via hydrogen bonding or with the ‐OH groups. An alternate statement regarding the hygroscopic nature of inorganic filler can be reflected by the decrease in peak intensity 54,55 . This condition is supported by Vijayakumar et al's 56 work, where the peak intensity of the quaternised polysulfone decreases with the introduction of quaternised mesoporous silica.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 85%

Enhancement in hydrolytic stability and proton conductivity of optimised chitosan/sulfonated poly(vinyl alcohol) composite membrane with inorganic fillers

Wong

Loh

et al. 2021

Intl J of Energy Research

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Summary The study aimed to obtain a chitosan/sulfonated poly(vinyl alcohol) (CS/SPVA) membrane with optimised hydrolytic stability and ion conduction properties by using the Taguchi method. Three factor variables including concentration of glutaraldehyde (GA), crosslinking temperature and crosslinking time were considered. An L18 orthogonal array along with the approach of larger‐the‐better was selected for the optimisation. The highest value in S/N ratio of −19.9947 was observed on sample set 9 without GA involvement, crosslinking temperature of 110°C and time of 90 minutes. The ionic conductivity and water uptake were 8.21 mS/cm and 82.05%, respectively, compared to 7.34 mS/cm and 215.9% of the nonoptimised CS/SPVA15. Further inspection with the incorporation of inorganic fillers (titanium dioxide (TiO2), silicon dioxide (SiO2) and sulfonated graphene oxide (SGO)) was conducted on the optimised CS/SPVA15. The thermomechanical properties of CS/SPVA15 composite membrane was improved with inorganic fillers. In terms of electrochemical properties, ionic conductivity was reduced because of the enhancement in thermal stability. The inorganic filler inhibits the accessible functional groups and increase the ionic resistance of CS/SPVA15 composite membrane. Amongst all samples, CS/SPVA15‐SGO is the most optimised with a minor trade‐off in ionic conductivity (6.82 mS/cm) and IEC (0.8866 mequiv/g) compared with CS/SPVA15, whilst delivering an exceptional hydrolytic stability (76.41%).

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“…Ion exchange capacity (IEC) was assessed to define the role of sulfonic acid groups (–SO 3 H) in the ionic conduction mechanism of SGO-X samples by comparing their performance with the ones of pristine GO and Nafion ® 212. A classical acid–base titration method was executed, replicating a technique already exploited by the authors in previous works [ 14 , 22 ]. Firstly, the samples were dried in oven at 60 °C for 1 h and their dry mass was measured.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of Sulfonated Graphene Oxide as the Base Material for Novel Proton Exchange Membranes

et al. 2022

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This work deals with the development of graphene oxide (GO)-based self-assembling membranes as possible innovative proton conductors to be used in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Nowadays, the most adopted electrolyte is Chemours’ Nafion; however, it reveals significant deficiencies such as strong dehydration at high temperature and low humidity, which drastically reduces its proton conductivity. The presence of oxygenated moieties in the GO framework makes it suitable for functionalization, which is required to enhance the promising, but insufficient, proton-carrying features of GO. In this study, sulfonic acid groups (–SO3H) that should favor proton transport were introduced in the membrane structure via a reaction between GO and concentrated sulfuric acid. Six acid-to-GO molar ratios were adopted in the synthesis procedure, giving rise to final products with different sulfonation degrees. All the prepared samples were characterized by means of TGA, ATR-FTIR and Raman spectroscopy, temperature-dependent XRD, SEM and EDX, which pointed out morphological and microstructural changes resulting from the functionalization stage, confirming its effectiveness. Regarding functional features, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) as well as measurements of ion exchange capacity (IEC) were carried out to describe the behavior of the various samples, with pristine GO and commercial Nafion® 212 used as reference. EIS tests were performed at five different temperatures (20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 °C) under high (95%) and medium (42%) relative humidity conditions. Compared to both GO and Nafion® 212, the sulfonated specimens demonstrate an increase in the number of ion-carrying groups, as proved by both IEC and EIS tests, which reveal the enhanced proton conductivity of these novel membranes. Specifically, an acid-to-GO molar ratio of 10 produces a six-fold improvement of IEC (4.23 meq g−1) with respect to pure GO (0.76 meq g−1), while a maximum eight-fold improvement (5.72 meq g−1) is achieved in SGO-15.

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Preliminary Study on the Development of Sulfonated Graphene Oxide Membranes as Potential Novel Electrolytes for PEM Fuel Cells

Cited by 5 publications

References 26 publications

Development of self-assembling sulfonated graphene oxide membranes as a potential proton conductor

Development of self-assembling sulfonated graphene oxide membranes as a potential proton conductor

Enhancement in hydrolytic stability and proton conductivity of optimised chitosan/sulfonated poly(vinyl alcohol) composite membrane with inorganic fillers

Investigation of Sulfonated Graphene Oxide as the Base Material for Novel Proton Exchange Membranes

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