Polymer electrolyte membranes for direct methanol fuel cells

Abstract

This thesis study is aimed at producing proton-conducting polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs) for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). In this thesis, relatively inexpensive monomers, 2-acrylamido-2-methyl propanesulfonic acid (AMPS) and 3-sulfopropyl methacrylate (SPM) in particular, were deployed as the proton source in a predominantly acrylic-based copolymer network with methanol blocking property. A number of preparation methods and their variations were explored, with fairly extensive microstructural characterizations of the resulting PEMs. The properties of most relevance to DMFC applications, especially proton conductivity and methanol permeability, were measured and compared with those of NafionA?. The experimental results showed promising performance of AMPS-based and SPM-based PEMs for DMFC applications.