Polymer‐zeolite composite membranes for direct methanol fuel cells

Abstract

Abstract Direct methanol fuel cells require membranes with the dual properties of high proton conductivity and low methanol crossover. Such membranes have a high selectivity, that is a high ratio of proton conductivity to methanol permeability. This research reports such a membrane made of polyvinylalcohol and loaded with mordenite, a proton conducting, methanol impermeable zeolite. Protons travel directly through both the polymer and zeolite phases, but methanol has a more tortuous path around the zeolite particles. The composite membranes show up to twenty times higher selectivity than Nafion, the current benchmark. The improved behavior, a result of the proper tailoring of the polymer and dispersion phase, is predicted using Maxwell's theory for diffusion in composite media.