The synthesis and characteristic of an anion conductive polymer membrane for alkaline anion exchange fuel cells

An alkaline anion exchange membrane has been developed from poly (methyl vinyl ether-alt-maleic anhydride) (PMVMA) by grafting quaternary ammonium groups through a maleic anhydride ring-open reaction. FT-IR spectra showed successful grafting of quaternary ammonium groups on this cheap raw material. TGA showed that the degradation temperature was 150 °C which was due to the loss of the quaternary ammonium groups. The tensile stress of the resultant membrane after ion exchange was 9.0 MPa, and the Young's modulus was 0.14 GPa with a fractured elongation 11%. The through plane, anion conductivity varied from 1.9 × 10−2 to 2.7 × 10−2 S cm−2 in the temperature range of 25–65 °C. The power density of a fuel cell with the membrane increased with the operation temperature in the range from 15 °C to 35 °C. With an ionomer loading of 15% in membrane electrode assemblies (MEA), the power density in the fuel cell was 115 mW cm−2 and 40 mW cm−2 for O2 (35 °C) and air (30 °C), respectively.

► An alkaline anion exchange membrane has been developed from the cheap raw polymer: poly(methyl vinyl ether-alt-maleic anhydride) (PMVMA).
► The membrane had high conductivity.
► AAEMFC tests showed power density 115 mW cm−2 and 40 mW cm−2 for H2/O2 (35 °C) and H2/air (CO2-free, 30 °C), respectively.
► The study provides low cost approach for alkaline anion exchange membrane development.