Preparation of composite membrane between a uniform porous silica matrix and injected proton conductive gel polymer

A new proton-conducting membrane was prepared consisting of uniformly macroporous silica and a proton-conducting gel polymer electrolyte. Three-dimensionally uniformly ordered macroporous silica was synthesized by use of a colloidal template method with monodisperse polystyrene beads. A macroporous silica membrane with adequate mechanical strength and porosity was successfully obtained. A gel polymer, 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid (AMPS), was injected into all of the pores to prepare a proton-conducting membrane that is a composite of macroporous silica and the gel polymer. The prepared membrane exhibited high proton conductivity and low methanol permeation. A H-2-O-2 fuel cell was constructed in order to test the composite membrane. The electrochemical performance obtained for the fuel cell with the composite membrane was similar to that for a fuel cell with a Nafion 117 membrane. From this result, it can be concluded that the composite membrane consisting of ceramic and polymer can be applied to fuel cells working at low temperature.