Proton exchange membranes are critical to renewable energy generation technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells.
Hydrogen fuel cells initiate an electrochemical reaction where the hydrogen atom is broken and a proton results; energy is created when a proton passes through the membrane to make a current.
Thus, it is ideal to have high selectivity and low reactant crossover. This project aims to interface graphene with supports that allow graphene to reduce reactant crossover (H2 and O2 in a H2 fuel cell) while maintaining
high proton conductance. Here we look at using isoporous PCTE infilled with Nafion as a new support for highly selective proton exchange membranes.
The first challenge in this project was to infill PCTE pores with nafion to maximize selectivity. I spent the Spring 2023 semester investigating new methods and found that the best method was to attach
PCTE to an eppendorf tube and fill it with a 2.5 wt% nafion solution, then put it in a vacuum chamber to force it through the membrane.
The next step was to add graphene to decrease unwanted hydrogen crossover. My colleague, Nicole Moering, finsihed up the project for her defense and I'm excited to announce that a paper is underway!
Successful configuration of nafion infilling, PCTE with graphene, Poster presenting semester’s findings
