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Development of cesium phosphotungstate salt and chitosan composite membrane for direct methanol fuel cells

•Csx-PTA NPs were mixed into CTS matrix to prepare CTS/Csx-PTA composite membrane.•CTS/Cs2-PTA composite membrane exhibits excellent mechanical properties.•CTS/Cs2-PTA composite membrane shows high proton conductivity.•CTS/Cs2-PTA composite membrane exhibits effective methanol-blocking property. A n...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Carbohydrate polymers 2013-10, Vol.98 (1), p.233-240
Main Authors: Xiao, Yanxin, Xiang, Yan, Xiu, Ruijie, Lu, Shanfu
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:•Csx-PTA NPs were mixed into CTS matrix to prepare CTS/Csx-PTA composite membrane.•CTS/Cs2-PTA composite membrane exhibits excellent mechanical properties.•CTS/Cs2-PTA composite membrane shows high proton conductivity.•CTS/Cs2-PTA composite membrane exhibits effective methanol-blocking property. A novel composite membrane has been developed by doping cesium phosphotungstate salt (CsxH3−xPW12O40 (0≤x≤3), Csx-PTA) into chitosan (CTS/Csx-PTA) for application in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). Uniform distribution of Csx-PTA nanoparticles has been achieved in the chitosan matrix. The proton conductivity of the composite membrane is significantly affected by the Csx-PTA content in the composite membrane as well as the Cs substitution in PTA. The highest proton conductivity for the CTS/Csx-PTA membranes was obtained with x=2 and Cs2-PTA content of 5wt%. The value is 6×10−3Scm−1 and 1.75×10−2Scm−1 at 298K and 353K, respectively. The methanol permeability of CTS/Cs2-PTA membrane is about 5.6×10−7, 90% lower than that of Nafion-212 membrane. The highest selectivity factor (φ) was obtained on CTS/Cs2-PTA-5wt% composite membrane, 1.1×104/Scm−3s. The present study indicates the promising potential of CTS/Csx-PTA composite membrane as alternative proton exchange membranes in direct methanol fuel cells.
ISSN:0144-8617
1879-1344
DOI:10.1016/j.carbpol.2013.06.017