ION CONDUCTING COMPOSITE MEMBRANE MATERIALS CONTAINING AN OPTIONALLY MODIFIED ZIRCONIUM PHOSPHATE DISPERSED IN A POLYMERIC MATRIX, METHOD FOR PREPARATION OF THE MEMBRANE MATERIAL AND ITS USE

摘要

The invention provides composite membrane materials comprising a polymer ofthe state of art uniformly filled with a zirconium phosphate, preferably.alpha.-zirconium phosphate or zirconium phosphate sulfoarylenphosphonateparticels. The composite membrane materials are preferably prepared startingfrom a solution of a polymer of the state of art and from a colloidaldispersion of .alpha.-zirconium phosphate or a zirconium phosphatesulfoarylenphosphonate. The colloidal particles are transferred into thesolution of the polymer preferably by mixing the dispersion with the solutionor by means of phase transfer. The membrane material is preferably obtained byremoving the solvent by evaporation or by a suitable non-solvent. Besides thecomposite membrane materials and the preparation methods, the use of the abovemembrane materials is claimed as ionomeric membranes with high overallperformance in high tempreature, especially hydrogen, and in indirect methanolfuel cells and with decreased methanol crossover in direct methanol fuel cells.