Advances in proton-exchange membranes for fuel cells: an overview on proton conductive channels (PCCs)

• Published in: Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP 2013-01, Vol.15 (14), p.487-4887
• Main Authors: Wu, Liang, Zhang, Zhenghui, Ran, Jin, Zhou, Dan, Li, Chuanrun, Xu, Tongwen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alignment; Applied sciences; Channels; Copolymers; Direct energy conversion and energy accumulation; Electrical engineering. Electrical power engineering; Electrical power engineering; Electrochemical conversion: primary and secondary batteries, fuel cells; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Equipments for energy generation and conversion: thermal, electrical, mechanical energy, etc; Exact sciences and technology; Fuel cells; Nanocomposites; Nanostructure; Proton exchange membrane fuel cells; Transport
• ISSN: 1463-9076; 1463-9084
• DOI: 10.1039/c3cp50296a

Proton-exchange membranes (PEM) display unique ion-selective transport that has enabled a breakthrough in high-performance proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Elemental understanding of the morphology and proton transport mechanisms of the commercially available Nafion® has promoted a majority of researchers to tune proton conductive channels (PCCs). Specifically, knowledge of the morphology-property relationship gained from statistical and segmented copolymer PEMs has highlighted the importance of the alignment of PCCs. Furthermore, increasing efforts in fabricating and aligning artificial PCCs in field-aligned copolymer PEMs, nanofiber composite PEMs and mesoporous PEMs have set new paradigms for improvement of membrane performances. This perspective profiles the recent development of the channels, from the self-assembled to the artificial, with a particular emphasis on their formation and alignment. It concludes with an outlook on benefits of highly aligned PCCs for fuel cell operation, and gives further direction to develop new PEMs from a practical point of view. This perspective article profiles the recent development of proton exchange membranes (PEMs) via improving proton conductive channels (PCCs), and concludes with an outlook on benefits of highly aligned PCCs for practical fuel cell operation.