Abstract
This paper proposes a new proton exchange membrane (PEM) based on photochemically synthesized nano porous aryl epoxy resin (npAER) sulfonated by sulfanilic acid. The npAER PEM fabrication process involves solvent-induced nanoporous structure formation combined with photopolymerization for microstructure fabrication. npAER/sulfanilic acid PEM have microstructure on surface by solvent-casting fabrication process. The major pore distribution of npAER/Sulfanilic acid PEM is very similar to that of NafionR 115 by physical gas adsorption-desorption and permeability test. npAER/sulfanilic acid PEM chemical structure, composition analysis and thermal stability, by UV-VIS-NIR, FTIR, XPS and cyclic voltammetry. The PEM was placed in the cathode of a half-fuel cell for testing in 0.5M H2SO4 at different temperatures with a constant oxygen flow. When compared to commercial PEM based on NafionR 115, this npAER/sulfanilic acid PEM exhibits increased current density as temperature increased from 600C to 900C, while NafionR 115 demonstrates current density drop. The npAER/sulfanilic acid PEM shows decent thermal stability, mechanical strength and proton transport ability at a higher temperature (900C).