Preparation and comparison of physical and electrochemical properties of Nafion and Nafion/ZrO2 nanocomposite membranes

Nafion nanocomposite membrane containing 5wt% zirconium oxide was fabricated. Nanocomposite and pristine Nafion membrane were prepared by casting method. The effect ofzirconium oxide nanoparticles is evaluated by comparing the properties of Nafion nanocomposite and filler-free membranes. Zirconium oxide nanoparticles were characterized with XRD. Physical and electrochemical properties of membranes, water uptake, proton conductivity and ion exchange capacity (IEC), were determined. Proton conductivity of pristine and nanocomposite membranes increased with temperature. Zirconium oxide causes hydrophilicity of the nanocomposite membrane is higher than that of pristine Nafion membrane and this allowed increasing the nanocomposite membrane's conductivity at high temperature.

Keywords:

Nafion , PEMFC , Nanocomposite membrane , Zirconia , Proton conductivity