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Updated: Mar 28, 2026
Electrophoretic Crystallization of Ultrathin High-performance Metal-organic Framework Membranes
Published on: August 16, 2018
A highly proton-conducting, methanol-blocking Nafion composite membrane enabled by surface-coating crosslinked
Guangwei He1, Xueyi He1, Xinglin Wang2
1Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China. zhyjiang@tju.edu.cn and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin 300072, China.
Researchers developed a composite membrane by coating graphene oxide onto Nafion. This membrane significantly reduces methanol crossover while maintaining high proton conductivity, overcoming a key challenge in fuel cell technology.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Electrochemistry
- Polymer Science
Background:
- Nafion membranes are widely used in fuel cells due to their high proton conductivity.
- A major limitation of Nafion is its high methanol permeability, leading to crossover issues.
- Developing composite membranes is a key strategy to address Nafion's limitations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To create a composite membrane that overcomes the trade-off between proton conductivity and methanol permeability.
- To investigate the effect of an ultrathin crosslinked graphene oxide film on Nafion performance.
- To understand the synergistic modulation of transport channels in the composite membrane.
Main Methods:
- Coating an ultrathin crosslinked graphene oxide (GO) film onto a Nafion support.
- Characterizing the structural and transport properties of the composite membrane.
- Evaluating methanol permeability and proton conductivity.
Main Results:
- Achieved a 93% decrease in methanol permeability compared to pure Nafion.
- Retained high proton conductivity, comparable to the original Nafion membrane.
- Demonstrated synergistic modulation of methanol and proton transport channels within the GO film.
Conclusions:
- The GO/Nafion composite membrane successfully overcomes the permeability-selectivity trade-off.
- Ultrathin crosslinked GO films are effective in reducing methanol crossover.
- This composite membrane shows significant promise for direct methanol fuel cell applications.
