PbS Nanoparticles Dispersed in Acid-Base Pair Polymer Nanocomposite Foams for High-Temperature Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Applications

To replace commercial Nafion membranes in polymer electrolytemembranefuel cell (PEMFC) applications, high-level research has lately focusedheavily on developing polymer nanocomposite membranes with greaterproton conductivity (PC), peak power density (PD), open circuit voltage(OCV), and cheaper cost. The aminated triazine containing poly(aryl-aliphaticethers) (PA-APAAEs) are synthesized via the Schiff base approach,and their functional groups and chemical structure were analyzed usingFourier transform infrared (FTIR), H-1 NMR, C-13 NMR, and DEPT C-13 NMR. PbS nanoparticles (NPs) are preparedthrough a one-pot hydrothermal method, and their particle size, morphology,and crystallographic nature were investigated through high-resolutiontransmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), scanning electron microscopy(SEM), and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) analyses. The present studydescribes a solvent-casting process for producing PbS nanoparticles(1-7 wt %) dispersed in phosphoric acid (PA)-doped triazinering-containing aminated poly(arylene-aliphatic ethers) (PA-APAAEs)polymer nanocomposite (PNC) foams, and their high-temperature polymerelectrolyte membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) performance was evaluated.Additionally, the evaluation of typical physiochemical properties,including ion exchange capacity (IEC), water uptake (WU), swellingratio (SR), porosity, proton conductivity (PC), and oxidative stability(OS), was done on both bare and PbS NPs-loaded PA/PA-APAAEs polymernanocomposite (PNC) foams. 5 wt % PbS nanoparticles introduced intoPA/PA-APAAEs PNC foams had the greatest IEC rate of 3.46 mmol g(-1) at room temperature (RT), as well as a PC value of3.42 10(-2) S cm(-1) at 150 & DEG;Cfor the PA-APAAEs foams. Furthermore, under anhydrous circumstances,the fuel cell test of the 5% PbS NPs-loaded PA-APAAEs PNC foam membraneyielded PD and OCV values of 0.525 W cm(-2) and 0.55V at 150 & DEG;C, respectively. At 100 & DEG;C for 6 h, the PNC exhibitedexcellent OS with 93.6% deterioration toward the Fenton reagent.