Fabrication and Characterization of Polymer Electrolyte Membranes Doped with Inorganic Additives for Fuel Cell Applications

Abstract

Fuel cell is one of the promising alternative energy conversion devices for the future energy requirements. In order to overcome the fossil fuel exhaustion at high rates due to the growing population and environmental pollution, clean energy technology plays a significant role. Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has been widely used in automotive, stationary and portable power sources, because of its high conversion efficiency and low emission of pollutants. Nafion®, a well-known perfluorinated polymer is used as an electrolyte for PEMFC application because of its high proton conductivity, good mechanical strength, excellent thermal and oxidative stability. However, the major hindrance in using this membrane for device application and commercialization is that it should be more hydrophilic and a few other limitations in the operating temperature newline