Preparation and characterization of UV-curable organic-inorganic membranes for fuel cells.

Анотація

Nowadays researchers are challenged to solve the environmental issues related with atmospheric pollution, green house effects and global warming, therefore they develop new types of efficient environmentally-benign energy devices. Direct alcohol fuel cells (DAFC) which use methanol or ethanol as a fuel are considered as promising energy conversion devices due to their high energy efficiency, low emission, simple operating conditions at a relatively low temperature, no requirement of fuel reforming process and environmentally friendly nature. To improve the performance of DAFC, especially to reduce methanol crossover, considerable efforts have been made to modify commercial solid polyelectrolyte membrane Nafion. Recently organic-inorganic composites have got a great attention as the alternative nonfluorinated PEM materials. They are known to improve mechanical and thermal properties as well as proton conductivity.