Contribution of zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 in improving the performance of polymer electrolyte membrane for direct methanol fuel cell

• Main Authors: Junoh, Hazlina, Awang, Nuha, Ahmad, Siti Nur Afifi, Azhar, Masaud, Jaafar, Juhana, Md. Nordin, Nik Abdul Hadi, Ismail, Ahmad Fauzi, Qtaishat, Mohammed Rasool, Matsuura, Takeshi, Othman, Mohd. Hafiz Dzarfan, Abdul Rahman, Mukhlis, Mohd. Zainoodin, Azran
• Format: Article
• Published: Elsevier Inc. 2024
• Subjects: Q Science (General); QD Chemistry
• Online Access: http://eprints.utm.my/108932/; http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jssc.2023.124395

Introducing ZIF-8 into the PES-cSMM membranes played a pivotal role in the development of proton-conducting pathways and an effective methanol barrier. We employed dry-wet phase inversion techniques to fabricate PES-cSMM, finding that a 3 wt% cSMM content yielded optimal results. The resulting PES-cSMM exhibits impressive performance, with a 38% higher selectivity and a 95% greater methanol barrier compared to Nafion® 117. The imidazole-N-H linker in the terminal PES-cSMM/ZIF-8 promotes proton transport through a hydrogen bond chain, while the hydrophobic backbone acts as an effective methanol filter. As a result, PES-cSMM/ZIF-8 boasts a 13-fold higher water uptake than Nafion® 117 and achieves a 99% improvement in methanol sieving performance, a highly promising breakthrough for DMFC systems. Proton conductivity for the PES-cSMM/ZIF-8 immersion membrane reaches 19.5 × 10-3 Scm-1, comparable to Nafion® 117, which is 20.4 × 10-3 Scm-1. The structural flexibility of ZIF-8 within PES-cSMM facilitates efficient proton conduction, while the ZIF-8 cage acts as a robust methanol barrier. Computational analysis revealed covalent bonding within the PES-cSMM system. We characterized the chemical interactions in PES-cSMM/ZIF-8 using topology analysis, specifically the Atom in Molecules/Non-covalent analysis (AIM/NCI) technique.