Current Density Performances in Poly Ether Ether Keton Membrane for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

Abstract

The objective of this study focuses on the characterization of poly ether ether ketone (PEEK) membranes for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) application. The PEEK membrane was modified with sulfonation in NMP solvent. The characterized of membrane were done using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), water uptake, methanol permeability, proton conductivity and DMFC test. DMFC tests were performed at room temperature to obtain polarization curves that show voltages and power density of each variable. The results showed that the sulfonation of PEEK method of the polymer increases water uptake. However, the methanol permeability and proton conductivity of membrane decreses. In terms of morphology, it was found that sulfonation of PEEK method can be applied for membrane modification for DMFC application. In terms of the DMFC tests of the membranes, SPEEK proved to have the best performance in stability because of its low methanol permeability.