Swelling-Resistant, Crosslinked Polyvinyl Alcohol Membranes with High ZIF-8 Nanofiller Loadings as Effective Solid Electrolytes for Alkaline Fuel Cells
The present work investigates the direct mixing of aqueous zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) suspension into a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and crosslinked with glutaraldehyde (GA) to form swelling-resistant, mechanically robust and conductivity retentive composite membranes. This drying-free nano...
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MDPI AG
2022-03-01
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| Series: | Nanomaterials |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/12/5/865 |
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| author | Po-Ya Hsu Ting-Yu Hu Selvaraj Rajesh Kumar Kevin C.-W. Wu Shingjiang Jessie Lue |
| author_facet | Po-Ya Hsu Ting-Yu Hu Selvaraj Rajesh Kumar Kevin C.-W. Wu Shingjiang Jessie Lue |
| author_sort | Po-Ya Hsu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The present work investigates the direct mixing of aqueous zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) suspension into a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and crosslinked with glutaraldehyde (GA) to form swelling-resistant, mechanically robust and conductivity retentive composite membranes. This drying-free nanofiller incorporation method enhances the homogeneous ZIF-8 distributions in the PVA/ZIF-8/GA composites to overcome the nanofiller aggregation problem in the mixed matrix membranes. Various ZIF-8 concentrations (25.4, 40.5 and 45.4 wt.%) are used to study the suitability of the resulting GA-crosslinked composites for direct alkaline methanol fuel cell (DAMFC). Surface morphological analysis confirmed homogeneous ZIF-8 particle distribution in the GA-crosslinked composites with a defect- and crack-free structure. The increased ionic conductivity (21% higher than the ZIF-free base material) and suppressed alcohol permeability (94% lower from the base material) of PVA/40.5%ZIF-8/GA resulted in the highest selectivity among the prepared composites. In addition, the GA-crosslinked composites’ selectivity increased to 1.5–2 times that of those without crosslink. Moreover, the ZIF-8 nanofillers improved the mechanical strength and alkaline stability of the composites. This was due to the negligible volume swelling ratio (<1.4%) of high (>40%) ZIF-8-loaded composites. After 168 h of alkaline treatment, the PVA/40.5%ZIF-8/GA composite had almost negligible ionic conductivity loss (0.19%) compared with the initial material. The maximum power density (P<sub>max</sub>) of PVA/40.5%ZIF-8/GA composite was 190.5 mW cm<sup>−2</sup> at 60 °C, an increase of 181% from the PVA/GA membrane. Moreover, the P<sub>max</sub> of PVA/40.5%ZIF-8/GA was 10% higher than that without GA crosslinking. These swelling-resistant and stable solid electrolytes are promising in alkaline fuel cell applications. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T20:26:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0262be4d2c2249c0ac36151810824c12 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2079-4991 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T20:26:48Z |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nanomaterials |
| spelling | doaj.art-0262be4d2c2249c0ac36151810824c122023-11-23T23:31:22ZengMDPI AGNanomaterials2079-49912022-03-0112586510.3390/nano12050865Swelling-Resistant, Crosslinked Polyvinyl Alcohol Membranes with High ZIF-8 Nanofiller Loadings as Effective Solid Electrolytes for Alkaline Fuel CellsPo-Ya Hsu0Ting-Yu Hu1Selvaraj Rajesh Kumar2Kevin C.-W. Wu3Shingjiang Jessie Lue4Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Chang Gung University, Guishan District, Taoyuan City 333, TaiwanDepartment of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Chang Gung University, Guishan District, Taoyuan City 333, TaiwanDepartment of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Chang Gung University, Guishan District, Taoyuan City 333, TaiwanDepartment of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei City 106, TaiwanDepartment of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Chang Gung University, Guishan District, Taoyuan City 333, TaiwanThe present work investigates the direct mixing of aqueous zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) suspension into a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and crosslinked with glutaraldehyde (GA) to form swelling-resistant, mechanically robust and conductivity retentive composite membranes. This drying-free nanofiller incorporation method enhances the homogeneous ZIF-8 distributions in the PVA/ZIF-8/GA composites to overcome the nanofiller aggregation problem in the mixed matrix membranes. Various ZIF-8 concentrations (25.4, 40.5 and 45.4 wt.%) are used to study the suitability of the resulting GA-crosslinked composites for direct alkaline methanol fuel cell (DAMFC). Surface morphological analysis confirmed homogeneous ZIF-8 particle distribution in the GA-crosslinked composites with a defect- and crack-free structure. The increased ionic conductivity (21% higher than the ZIF-free base material) and suppressed alcohol permeability (94% lower from the base material) of PVA/40.5%ZIF-8/GA resulted in the highest selectivity among the prepared composites. In addition, the GA-crosslinked composites’ selectivity increased to 1.5–2 times that of those without crosslink. Moreover, the ZIF-8 nanofillers improved the mechanical strength and alkaline stability of the composites. This was due to the negligible volume swelling ratio (<1.4%) of high (>40%) ZIF-8-loaded composites. After 168 h of alkaline treatment, the PVA/40.5%ZIF-8/GA composite had almost negligible ionic conductivity loss (0.19%) compared with the initial material. The maximum power density (P<sub>max</sub>) of PVA/40.5%ZIF-8/GA composite was 190.5 mW cm<sup>−2</sup> at 60 °C, an increase of 181% from the PVA/GA membrane. Moreover, the P<sub>max</sub> of PVA/40.5%ZIF-8/GA was 10% higher than that without GA crosslinking. These swelling-resistant and stable solid electrolytes are promising in alkaline fuel cell applications.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/12/5/865polymeric electrolytesZIF-8 nanofillersglutaraldehydealkaline stabilitydirect alkaline methanol fuel cell |
| spellingShingle | Po-Ya Hsu Ting-Yu Hu Selvaraj Rajesh Kumar Kevin C.-W. Wu Shingjiang Jessie Lue Swelling-Resistant, Crosslinked Polyvinyl Alcohol Membranes with High ZIF-8 Nanofiller Loadings as Effective Solid Electrolytes for Alkaline Fuel Cells Nanomaterials polymeric electrolytes ZIF-8 nanofillers glutaraldehyde alkaline stability direct alkaline methanol fuel cell |
| title | Swelling-Resistant, Crosslinked Polyvinyl Alcohol Membranes with High ZIF-8 Nanofiller Loadings as Effective Solid Electrolytes for Alkaline Fuel Cells |
| title_full | Swelling-Resistant, Crosslinked Polyvinyl Alcohol Membranes with High ZIF-8 Nanofiller Loadings as Effective Solid Electrolytes for Alkaline Fuel Cells |
| title_fullStr | Swelling-Resistant, Crosslinked Polyvinyl Alcohol Membranes with High ZIF-8 Nanofiller Loadings as Effective Solid Electrolytes for Alkaline Fuel Cells |
| title_full_unstemmed | Swelling-Resistant, Crosslinked Polyvinyl Alcohol Membranes with High ZIF-8 Nanofiller Loadings as Effective Solid Electrolytes for Alkaline Fuel Cells |
| title_short | Swelling-Resistant, Crosslinked Polyvinyl Alcohol Membranes with High ZIF-8 Nanofiller Loadings as Effective Solid Electrolytes for Alkaline Fuel Cells |
| title_sort | swelling resistant crosslinked polyvinyl alcohol membranes with high zif 8 nanofiller loadings as effective solid electrolytes for alkaline fuel cells |
| topic | polymeric electrolytes ZIF-8 nanofillers glutaraldehyde alkaline stability direct alkaline methanol fuel cell |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/12/5/865 |
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