Doğru metanol yakıt hücrelerinde uygulamalar için sPEEK/ TiSi04 ve sPEEK/sülfonlamış tisio4 nanokomposit membranların geliştirilmesi

As of now, many researchers have focused their attention on the less expensive PEEK, a polymer that is emerging as a promising alternative with low cost. This current work aims at developing and fabricating sPEEK/TiSiO4 (x1-x3) and sPEEK/ sulfonated-TiSiO4 (y1-y3) nanocomposite membranes with high water uptake, proton conductivity and good DMFC performances at a much lower cost as compared to the Nafion membranes. PEEK, poly (ether ether ketone) was chosen as the base polymer and it was activated by the post sulfonation technique for 18h at 35ºC to form sPEEK polymer with a 53% degree of sulfonation. An FTIR and XRD analyses confirmed the sulfonation of PEEK and the armophous nature of the new polymer. Furthermore the FTIR also revealed some interaction of the titania and silica oxides in the pure and modified TiSiO4 fillers. The pure sPEEK with a 53% DS exhibited the lowest proton conductivity values over the entire temperature range. The x2 and y3 membranes showed significant increases in water uptake and conductivity at 80 ºC. At 80 ºC, the y3 attained a peak power density of 49.14mW/cm2 whereas the x2 membrane attained only 29.21mW/cm2. These results reveal an enhancement in the performance of the DMFC with the modified membranes. Keywords: DMFCs, Nanocomposite membranes, Inorganic oxide, Degree of sulfonation, Proton conductivity