Journal de chimie et de génie chimique appliqué

Synthesis and Characterization of Fly Ash/ Chitosan/ PVA Composite Bio Membrane for Low to Moderate Temperature Fuel Cell Applications

Now days, the demand of petroleum based energy resource gradually increases. But due to its limited availability, high toxic emission and adverse effect to the environment, forced us to development of potential alternatives. In recent year, fuel cell technology received more attention because of its high efficiency and lower toxic emission. Fuel cell is a device that continuously converts the chemical energy from a fuel like hydrogen, methanol etc. into electricity through an electro chemical reaction. PEMFC is an efficient electro chemical conversion device for stationary and portable applications. In PEMFC, a proton conducting polymer is used as an electrolytes. In PEMFC, proton transport plays a vital role for achieving more power density. Proton Exchange Membrane  (PEM) is one of the important components of a PEMFC for achieving high power density. It is a selective permeable membrane which allows the transport of protons from anode side to cathode side and separate reactant gases from each other. For achieving high power density, PEM should have better proton conductivity, low reactant permeability, excellent electron insulation property, low cost, easily prepared, better mechanical, thermal and hydrolytic stability. Perfluorinated sulfonic acid membranes (PFSA) like Nafion (Dupont®) are considered as a conventional PEM membrane because of their high proton conductivity, good mechanical and thermal stability at low temperatures.