Physical properties and proton conductivitymeasurements of Nafionheteropoly acid nanocomposite membranes containing nanoclay

Nafion - heteropoly acid -montmorillonite nanocomposite membranes were prepared for direct methanol fuelcell applications.In this work,cesium hydrogen salt of heteropolyacid including Cs2.5H0.5PW12O40 (CsPW) is incorporated into K10montmorillonite (MMT) in an effort to improve the properties of Nafion membrane. The X‐ray diffraction and scanning electronmicroscopyanalyses were conducted to characterize the filler and membrane structure. Then,ion exchange capacity, water uptakeand proton conductivity analyses were performed to characterize the physical properties of these membranes. The results showedthat by increasing amount of CsPW increases water uptake and ion exchange capacity of the membranes.Also, byincreasing amount of cesium hydrogen salts of heteropoly acids in the membrane the proton conductivity of thenanocomposite membranes has been improved.

Keywords:

Direct Methanol Fuel Cell , Nafion , Nanocomposite membrane , Heteropolyacid , montmorillonite