Synthesis and characterization of sulfonated po!y(arylene ether) membranes containing perfiuorocyclobutane moiety for fuel cell applications

摘要

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have been attracting considerable attention as new power sources for vehicles and portable devices. Currently, Perfluorosulfonic acid membranes such as Nafion~R are the current state-of-the-art PEM materials because of their superior chemical and electrochemical stability, high proton conductivity with relatively low ion exchange capacity (IEC). However, perfluorosulfonic acid membranes suffer from critical drawbacks of high cost, high methanol crossover as well as poor mechanical stability at elevated temperatures(T > 80 °C).