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Published on: August 16, 2018
A Fiberglass-Cloth-Reinforced Perfluorosulfonic Acid Membrane
Zhutao Zhang1, Yiru Dou1, Wen Zhang1,2
1State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and Low-Carbon Technology, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Membrane Science and Desalination Technology, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China.
Abstract:
Perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) membranes have found broad-ranging applications, owing to their high ionic conductivity and excellent chemical stability. However, membranes with higher mechanical strength, lower area-specific resistance, reduced swelling, less gas crossover and more affordable costs are desirable. Herein, we report on the fabrication of a fiberglass-cloth-reinforced PFSA membrane using a simple solution cast method. The breaking strength of the reinforced membrane has the potential to reach 81 MPa, which is about 6 times and 2.5 times that of its non-reinforced counterpart and the commercial Nafion 117 (N117) membrane, respectively. The area swelling ratio of the reinforced membrane is lowered to merely 3%, which is only about 1/12 that of N117, in water at 100 °C. Despite ionic conduction being hindered by the fiberglass cloth, the reinforced PFSA membrane shows an area-specific resistance of only 0.069 Ω·cm2, which is 58% lower than that of N117, under 80 °C and 100% humidity. This research provides a promising technological pathway for the development of high-performance ionic conductive membranes.
