The relentless increase in the demand for useable power from energy-hungry economies continues to drive energy-material related research. Fuel cells, as a future potential power source that provide clean-at-the-point-of-use power offer many advantages such as high efficiency, high energy density, quiet operation, and environmental friendliness. Critical to the operation of the fuel cell is the ...

The development of proton-exchange membranes for fuel cells has generated global interest in order to have a potential source of power for stationary and portable applications. The membrane is the heart of a fuel cell and the performance of a fuel cell depends largely on the physico-chemical nature of the membrane and its stability in the hostile environment of hydrogen and oxygen at elevated t...

A novel sulfonated polybenzimidazole/organoclay (Cloisite-30B) (SPBI/clay) nanocomposite membranes was successfully synthesized based on aromatic diacide (1) and diaminobenzidine. Nanocomposite membranes were fabricated using 1, 4-bis (hydroxymethyl) benzene (BHMB) as cross-linker, and Cloisite-30B organoclay as the pseudo cross-linker. The cross-linked SPBI/clay nanocomposite membranes were pr...

Contact resistance among the components of a polymer exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has a crucial effect on cell performance. The geometry of the endplate plays an essential role in the contact pressure distribution over the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) and the amount of contact resistance between plates. In this work, the effects of endplate geometry on the contact pressure distribut...

carbon membrane can be produced using a wide variety of polymer precursor materials via heat treatment process. a general concept route of precursor selection-preparation-modification-performance analysis platform for the carbon membrane has been proposed to promote the development of carbon membrane material for a wide range of application. the current review considers the recent progress of c...

proton exchange membrane fuel cells (pemfcs) with a dead-ended anode and cathode can obtain high hydrogen and oxygen utilization by a comparatively simple system. nevertheless, the accumulation of the water in the anode and cathode channels might cause a local fuel starvation degrading the performance and durability of pemfcs. in this study, a brand new design for a polymer electrolyte membrane...

A modified microfiltration membrane has been prepared by blending a matrix polymer with a functional polymer. Cellulose acetate (CA) was blended with polyethyleneimine (PEI), which was then crosslinked by polyisocyanate, in a mixture of solvents. In the membrane, PEI can supply coupling sites for ligands in affinity separation or be used as ligands for metal chelating, removal of endotoxin or i...

Nanocomposite cation exchange membranes (CEMs) were prepared by adding various amounts of functionalized silica-coated magnetite nanoparticles to the sulfonated polyethersulfone (sPES) polymeric matrix. The particles were synthesized first by the co-precipitation method (M0). Different surface modifications were then carried out on them by grafting three functional groups of mercaptopropyl, pro...

Nanoscale vesicles have become a popular tool in life sciences. Besides liposomes that are generated from phospholipids of natural origin, polymersomes fabricated of synthetic block copolymers enjoy increasing popularity, as they represent more versatile membrane building blocks that can be selected based on their specific physicochemical properties, such as permeability, stability, or chemical...

We theoretically study phase transitions of a polymer threading through a pore imbedded in a membrane. We focus on the coupling between a partition of the polymer segments through the membrane and a coil-globule transition of the single polymer chain. Based on the Flory model for collapse transitions of a polymer chain, we calculate the fraction of polymer segments and the expansion factor of a...