Effect of Sulfonation Degree on Performance of Proton Exchange Membranes for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

A series of proton exchange membranes based on sulfonated polyarylene ether ketones(SPAEKs) was used to study the effect of sulfonation degree on proton conductivity, methanol permeation and performance of direct methanol fuel cells(DMFCs). Dependences of physical characteristics of the membranes, i.e., proton conductivity, water uptake, swelling ratio, methanol permeability and ion exchange capacity(IEC) were systematically studied. Both methanol permeability and proton conductivity of the SPAEK membrane grow rapidly as the increase in sulfonation degree since methanol molecules and protons share the same transfer channel. However, the methanol permeability plays more important role comparing to proton conductivity. As a result, the SPAEK membrane with a medium sulfonation degree(60%) was found to yield the best performance in a DMFC due to the acquirement of balanced conductivity and methanol permeability.