Ramaiyan, K. and Pradnya, P. A. and Thangavelu, P. and Sreekumar , K. and Ulhas, K.K. and Vijayamohanan, K.Pillai (2010) Artificially Designed Membranes Using Phosphonated Multiwall Carbon Nanotube-Polybenzimidazole Composites for Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells. Journal of Physics Chemistry Letters. pp. 2009-2013. ISSN 1948-7185

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Abstract

The ability of phosphonated carbon nanotubes to offer an unprecedented approach to tune both proton conductivity and mechanical stability of hybrid polymer electrolytes based on the polybenzimidazole membrane is demonstrated for fuel cell applications. The covalent attachment between the amino group of the 2-aminoethylphosphonic acid precursor and CNTs has been confirmed by NMR and IR experiments, while EDAX analysis indicates that one out of every 20 carbon atoms in the CNT is functionalized. Proton conductivity of the composite membrane shows a remarkable 50% improvement in performance, while a maximum power density of 780 and 600mWcm-2 is obtained for the composite and pristine membranes, respectively. Finally, the ultimate strength determined for the composite and pristine membranes is 100 and 65 MPa, respectively, demonstrating the superiority of the composite. This study opens up a newstrategy to systematically tune the properties of polymer electrolytes for special applications by using appropriately functionalized CNTs.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells,
Subjects:	Fuel Cells Electrochemical Power Sources
Divisions:	UNSPECIFIED
Depositing User:	Sri Vamshi
Date Deposited:	09 Apr 2012 02:53
Last Modified:	19 Oct 2012 12:27
URI:	http://cecri.csircentral.net/id/eprint/2033

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