UV-curable hybrid organic-inorganic membranes for the use as PEM in fuel cell

Abstract

The series of membranes were prepared by UV-initiated polymerization of acrylic monomers (acrylonitrile AN, acrylic acid AA and potassium 3-sulfopropylacrylate SPAK) at the presence of photoinitiator (2,2-dimethoxy-2-phenylacetophenone (DMPA)) and cross-linker ethyleneglycole dimethacrylate (EGDMA), and simultaneous sol-gel process in TEOS-based sol-gel system. Characterization of the obtained nanocomposites includes measurements of proton conductivity, thermal behaviuor, water/methanol uptake, free surface energy. The synthesized membranes have high proton conductivity (10-2 Sm/cm) and other properties allowing to consider them as promising candidates for fuel cell application.