| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1274204 | International Journal of Hydrogen Energy | 2013 | 8 Pages |
•PBI/ZC-PAMAM dendrimer (containing sulfonic acid and amine groups) composite membranes was synthesized for DMFC applications.•Water uptake and ionic conductivity results showed good prospects for use in DMFC.•The methanol permeability of PBI/ZC-PAMAM composite membranes is much lower than that of Nafion-117.
The zwitterion-coated polyamidoamine (ZC-PAMAM) dendrimer with ammonium and sulfonic acid groups has been synthesized and used as filler for the preparation of PBI-based composite membranes for direct methanol fuel cells. Polybenzimidazole (PBI)/ZC-PAMAM dendrimer composite membranes were prepared by casting a solution of PBI and ZC-PAMAM dendrimer, and then evaporating the solvent. The presence of ZC-PAMAM dendrimer was confirmed by FT-IR and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) mapping of sulfur and oxygen elements. The water uptake, swelling degree, proton conductivity, and methanol permeability of the membranes increased with the ZC-PAMAM dendrimer content. For the PBI/ZC-PAMAM-20 membrane with 20 wt% of ZC-PAMAM, it shows a proton conductivity of 1.83 × 10−2 S/cm at 80 °C and a methanol permeability of 5.23 × 10−8 cm2 s−1. Consequently, the PBI/ZC-PAMAM-20 demonstrates a maximum power density of 26.64 mW cm−2 in a single cell test, which was about 2-fold higher than Nafion-117 membrane under the same conditions.
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