Zirconium phosphate/Nafion115 composite membrane for high-concentration DMFC

Zirconium phosphate/Nafion115 (ZrP/Nafion115) composite membrane was prepared. It was characterized by means of XRD, EDX, ion-exchange capacity (IEC), thermogravimetry analysis (TGA) and so on. The results suggested that the mean particle size of zirconium phosphate within the composite membrane was about 5.0 nm. The composite membrane had comparable thermal stability with Nafion115, and its IEC markedly increased. The methanol crossover through it decreased by about 50% compared with that through Nafion115, while the proton conductivity slightly decreased. The single performance tests demonstrated that the use of composite membrane reduced mass transport polarization, thus resulting in better cell performance at 75 °C with higher methanol concentration (10 M) as fuel. The preliminary result of durability test showed that the single cell with composite membrane can stably run 100 h above 0.4 V.