Proton-conducting silica-gel films doped with a variety of electrolytes

Sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone)–silica membranes doped with phosphotungstic acid. Morphology and proton conductivity

“…It has been shown by Tatsumisago et al [13,14] that, when phosphotungstic acid is incorporated in a silica-gel film obtained from the sol-gel process of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS), the conductivity at room temperature of the silica gel increased from 10 −5 S/cm to 10 −3 -10 −2 S/cm. The silica gel has a large number of micropores and mesopores that are "filled" with the proton conductive electrolyte [14]. Strong electrostatic interactions between charged silanol groups and the polyanions of PWA are believed to confer stability to the system [15,16].…”

Organic‐Inorganic Nanocomposite Membranes as High Temperature Proton Exchange Membranes for a Direct Dimethyl Ether Fuel Cell Application

“…In order to suppress fuel crossover, considerable research has been performed. Hybrid composite membranes using organic materials (6) and inorganic materials (7-10), nanoporous membranes (11), and multilayered membranes (12,13) have been fabricated. Higher conductivity is also being required to retain high cell performance and to reduce the size of cell.…”

Highly proton conducting hybrid materials synthesized from 12-phosphotungstic and hexadecyltrimethylammonium salt

“…However, the application of PWA with a high proton conductivity of 10 -1 S/cm at room temperature is limited by the extreme sensitivity of their conductivity to the relative humidity of the surrounding atmosphere, in addition to that the PWA is soluble in water. Attempts have been made to immobilize the PWA in silica gel [25], ammonium salt [26], to disperse them in an organically modified electrolyte membrane [27] and organic/inorganic hybrid membranes [5,7,8,[28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. Staiti et al [36] reported that PWA, as an aqueous solution, could represent an efficient electrolyte for low-temperature fuel cells, although the risk of its continuous leakage during cell operation is high.…”