Sulfonated Poly (ether ether ketone) /Silica Coated Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes Composite Membranes for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

摘要

Sulfonated poly (ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) is currently considered to be one of the most potential candidates of Nafion(R) proton exchange membranes[1].Although the SPEEK exhibits high proton conductivity,it still has relatively high methanol permeability and low mechanical properties.To balance the relationship between proton conductivity and methanol barrier and mechanical properties in SPEEK,we prepared composite proton exchange membranes composed of SPEEK and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) coated by silica (SiO2).Insulating SiO2 shell was coated on the stiff MWNTs by means of a simple sol-gel method and then the core/shell structured MWNTs@SiO2 was embedded in SPEEK matrix to afford a homogeneous composite membrane.