Surfactant templated nanoporous carbon-Nafion hybrid membranes for direct methanol fuel cells with reduced methanol crossover

In the path to improve the efficiency of direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), development of an alternative membrane with reduced methanol cross over is the great deal of current interest. Herein, we configured a novel nanoporous carbon-Nafion hybrid membrane which reduces the methanol crossover by 50% compared to the pristine Nafion membrane. Firstly, nanoporous carbon (NPC) is synthesized through a surfactant template route using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) which direct well-established pore geometry in the NPC during synthesis. NPC acts as effective filler to Nafion polymer matrix by restricting the methanol crossover in a hybrid membrane in return helps in enhancing DMFC output power density. Proton conductivity, methanol crossover, microscopic analysis along with durability in the cell mode is systematically studied to find potential application of derived hybrid membrane towards DMFC. The DMFC comprising Nafion-NPC hybrid membrane delivers the peak power density of 171 mW cm(-2) at 70 degrees C under ambient pressure which is about three folds higher than pristine Nafion membrane under identical operating conditions. Hence, the current investigation intended to find remarkable scope for the future DMFC technology development.