Functionalization of polymeric materials as a high performance membrane for direct methanol fuel cell: A review

A coherent review on the advanced proton exchange membranes (PEMs) for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) application and the future direction in the development of a high performance polymeric membrane for DMFC were discussed in this paper. PEMs have a profound influence on performance of DMFC. The PEMs are categorized into five groups which are partially fluorinated, perfluorinated ionomers, acid-base complexes, non-fluorinated ionomers, hydro carbon and aromatic polymers. Many researchers have investigated the functionalization methods on the PEMs to solve methanol crossover problem while obtaining low electronic conductivity, high proton conductivity, low electro osmotic drag coefficient, high mechanical properties and good chemical and thermal stability. Including in this review, fabrication of PEM using electrospinning process coupled with the promising functionalized polymeric materials which were known to be the most important initiatives at present in order to further expand the full potential of DMFC performance.