A Study of influence on sulfonated TiO2-Poly (Vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) nano composite membranes for PEM Fuel cell application

The present work describes the sulfonated Titania directly blended with Poly (Vinylidene fluoride-cohexafluoropropylene) as a host polymer by solvent casting technique for PEM fuel cell application. Characterization studies such as FT-IR, SEM, EDX, AFM, Proton conductivity, contact angle measurement, IEC, TG, water uptake, tensile strength were performed by for synthesized proton conducting polymer electrolytes. The maximum proton conductivity value was found to be 3.6 x 10(-3)S/cm for 25 wt% sulfonated Titania based system at 80 degrees C. The temperature dependent proton conductivity of the polymer electrolyte follows an Arrhenius relationship. Surface morphology of the composite membranes was investigated by tapping mode. Thermal stability of the system was studied by TG analysis. The fabricated composite membranes with high proton conductivity, good water uptake and IEC parameters exhibited a maximum fuel cell power density of 85 Mw/cm(2)for PEM fuel cell application. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.