title: Improved Methanol Barrier Property of Nafion Hybrid Membrane by Incorporating Nanofibrous Interlayer Self-Immobilized with High Level of Phosphotungstic Acid.
abstract: High level of phosphotungstic acid (PWA) was self-immobilized on electrospun nylon nanofiberous sheet to fabricate highly selective methanol barrier layer for sandwich structured proton conducting membranes. Simple tuning for the assembly conditions of central layer and thickness of outer Nafion layers allowed obtaining different composite membranes with superior methanol barrier properties (namely, P=3.59×10(-8) cm2 s(-1)) coupled with proton conductivities reaching 58.6 mS cm(-1) at 30 °C. Comparable activation energy for proton transport and more than 20 times higher selectivity than Nafion 115 confirm the effectiveness of the central layer and resulting membranes for application in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). When tested in DMFC single cell, the performance of hybrid membrane was far better than Nafion 115 especially at higher methanol concentrations.
authors.affiliation: ‡Advanced Materials Research Group, Institute of Hydrogen Energy, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, International Campus, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.|†Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Ebrahim
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Abouzari-lotf
authors.affiliation: ‡Advanced Materials Research Group, Institute of Hydrogen Energy, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, International Campus, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.|†Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Mohamed Mahmoud
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Nasef
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ghassemi
authors.affiliation: ‡Advanced Materials Research Group, Institute of Hydrogen Energy, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, International Campus, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.|†Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Masoumeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zakeri
authors.affiliation: ‡Advanced Materials Research Group, Institute of Hydrogen Energy, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, International Campus, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Arshad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ahmad
authors.affiliation: §Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Yadollah
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Abdollahi
keywords: composite membranes; electrospun nanofibers; phosphotungstic acid; proton transfer; self-immobilized materials