Method for Preparing a Radiation Grafted Fuel Cell Membrane with Enhanced Chemical Stability and a Membrane Electrode Assembly

摘要

In a method for preparing a membrane to be assembled in a membrane electrode assembly, such as a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell, a base polymer film is irradiated with at least one of electromagnetic and particle radiation in order to form reactive centers within the polymer film. The irradiated film is exposed to a mixture of monomers amenable to radical polymerization to form a graft copolymer in the irradiated film. The mixture includes α-methylstyrene and methacrylonitrile. The grafted film is sulfonated to introduce sulfonic acid sites providing ionic conductivity of the material.