New membranes for direct methanol fuel cells

The performance of direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) is limited by the cross-over of methanol through the electrolyte. Electrolyte membranes prepared by blending of sulfonated arylene main-chain polymers like sulfonated PEEK Victrex (sPEEK) or sulfonated PSU Udel (sPSU) with basic polymers like poly(4-vinylpyridine) (P4VP) or polybenzimidazole (PBI) show excellent chemical and thermal stability, good proton-conductivity, and good performance in H2 PEM fuel cells. Furthermore, these materials have potentially lower methanol cross-over when compared to standard Nafion-type membranes. In this work, membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) have been prepared from such membranes according to the thin-film method. The catalyst layer was spray-coated directly on the heated membrane using an ink consisting of an aqueous suspension of catalyst powder and Nafion solution. Unsupported catalysts were used for anode and cathode. A rather high catalyst loading was chosen in order to minimize the effects of limited catalyst utilization due to flooding conditions at both electrodes.