Modau, L.; Sigwadi, R.; Mokrani, T.; Nemavhola, F. Chitosan Membranes for Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Applications. Membranes2023, 13, 838.
Modau, L.; Sigwadi, R.; Mokrani, T.; Nemavhola, F. Chitosan Membranes for Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Applications. Membranes 2023, 13, 838.
Modau, L.; Sigwadi, R.; Mokrani, T.; Nemavhola, F. Chitosan Membranes for Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Applications. Membranes2023, 13, 838.
Modau, L.; Sigwadi, R.; Mokrani, T.; Nemavhola, F. Chitosan Membranes for Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Applications. Membranes 2023, 13, 838.
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to identify the steps involved in fabricating silica/chitosan composite membranes and their suitability in fuel cell application. It also intends to identify the physical characteristics of chitosan composite membranes, including their degree of water absorption, proton conductivity, methanol permeability, and functional groups. In this investigation, composite membranes were fabricated using the solution casting method with chitosan content of 5 g and silica variations dosage of 2% and 4% while stirring at a constant speed for 2h. According to the findings, the analysis of composite membranes produced chitosan membranes that were successfully modified with silica. The optimum membrane was found to be 4% s-SiO2 from the Sol-gel method with composite membrane's optimal condition of 0.234 cm/s proton conductivity, water uptake of 56.21%, and reduced methanol permeability of 0.99 × 10 -7 cm2/s in the first 30 minutes and 3.31 × 10-7 in the last 150 minutes. Maintaining lower water uptake capacity at higher silica content is still a challenge that needs to be addressed. However, the fabricated membranes showed exceptional results in terms of proton conductivity and methanol permeability.
Keywords
Chitosan; Fuel Cell; Water Uptake; Proton Conductivity; Silica, Sulfonated
Subject
Engineering, Chemical Engineering
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
