Nafion-Mesoporous Silica as Electrolyte for Ethanol Fuel Cells

摘要

In this work, mesoporous silica with medium surface area was prepared. The synthesized mesoporous silica was characterized by BET, SEM and TEM demonstrating the formation of an organized pore structure of the silica. Nafion-SiO2 composite membrane with 5% of the filler was characterized by thermogravimetry and ac impedance spectroscopy. The composite membranes exhibited higher proton conductivity than the reference Nafion membrane, due to the increasing of the water retention of the system. Direct ethanol fuel cell polarization curves of the composite were also conducted at 80℃ and 130 ℃, confirming the enhancement in ethanol fuel cells performance, due to a reduced ethanol cross over, as well as to enhanced proton conductivity of the composite membrane.