Preparation of Pd-coated polymer electrolyte membranes and their application in direct methanol fuel cells

Polymer electrolyte membranes for the direct methanol fuel cell: A review

“…However, most of thesePEMs possess similar transport properties to Nafion® 61. Other PEMs developed in the literature for the DMFC constitute a variety of designapproaches, such as the synthesis of newionic (sulfonic acid) random and block copolymers,21, 23, 24, 26, 28, 30, 31, 36, 43–46, 48, 51, 57, 63–72 graft copolymerization of ionic polymers unto hydrophobic membranes,15, 16, 34, 52, 73 blending ionic and nonionic polymers,13, 20, 17, 49, 53, 54, 57, 58, 74–88 the synthesis of interpenetrating networks of ionic and nonionic polymers,42, 50, 89–99 incorporating a variety of fillers (e.g., silica, montmorillonite) into ionic polymer membranes,12, 14, 18, 19, 22, 25, 27, 29, 33, 37–39, 41, 47, 92, 100–118 and coating ionic polymer membranes with thin barrier coatings 12, 32, 35, 40, 80, 119–126. The subsections below highlight findings from these investigations.…”

“…Polymer membranes containing micrometer to nanometer size fillers (composite membranes) have been explored intensely for the DMFC 12, 14, 18, 19, 22, 25, 27, 29, 33, 37–39, 41, 47, 100–118. A variety of fillers, including silica,18, 19, 38, 41, 50, 105, 115 zirconium phosphate,109 phosphotungstic acid,100 molybdophosphoric acid,112 Aerosil (silicon dioxide powder),112 ORMOSILS (organically modified silicates),22 silane‐based fillers,22 titanium oxide,109 hydroxyapatite,104 laponite,117 montmorillonite,14, 47, 110 zeolites,114 and palladium,116 have been incorporated in a number of different polymer membranes including Nafion®.…”

Surface-modified Nafion membrane by trioctylphosphine-stabilized palladium nanoparticles for DMFC applications

“…Moreover, swelling due to the hydration of the membrane during its operation in the DMFC results in the formation of cracks in the vacuum-deposited Pd layer. Similarly, some cracks were found on the surface of the electroless-plated Pd membrane [28], and to avoid crack formation, the membrane had to be kept in deionized water to keep it fully hydrated [29]. From Fig.…”

The impact of anode design on fuel crossover of direct ethanol fuel cell

“…It is widely reported in literature that the catalysed membrane preparation is an appropriate method to mitigate methanol and ethanol crossover. The surface modification of Nafion membrane and the incorporation of Pd and Pd alloy into Nafion membrane have been developed to reduce the methanol crossover [10], moreover, Pd is impermeable to methanol and sufficient permeable for hydrogen (proton) [11]. The Pt-Pd alloy catalyst with an appropriate ratio exhibit very good resistance against CO poisoning effect [12].…”