Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell requires proton transfer through the membrane to enable the electro-chemical conversion process. Up to the present, apart from sulfonate side groups on Nafion<sup>®</sup> or poly(ether ether ketone) to favor the proton movement, heterocyclic molecules e.g. imidazole, benzimidazole, etc. are known as the proton transfer species which allow the proton hopping (Grothuss) and/or vehicle mechanism via the balance of hydrogen bonds between heterocycles and molecular mobility. However, in most cases, the incorporation of these proton transfer species into PEMFC relies on the chemical modification in solution state followed by casting the membrane. This involves with the complicated reaction steps whereas the proton transfer species might be inactive due to the random existence in the inner part of the membrane. To our viewpoint, as proton transfer is initially starting from the protons attached to the membrane surface, the membrane surface covering with proton transfer species might enable protons to pass through the membrane effectively and efficiently. In addition, the ordered structure of proton conductive species on the membrane surface possibly leads to a well-defined proton transfer pathway to enhance the conductivity. The point is how to decorate proton transfer species on the membrane surface. The presentation will review our approaches on tailoring the membrane surface, such as layer-by-layer (LbL), grafting with polymer brushes, enrichment with magnetic field induction, and decorating with fibrous composite and the performances on the proton conductivity.

Tailoring Proton Transfer Species on the Membrane Surface: An Approach to Enhance Proton Conductivity for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.