Alcohols Permeability in Nafion Membranes for Direct Alcohol Fuel Cell: Principles and Types of Fuel Cells, a Comparative Study on Porosity of Alcohols Through Nafion Membranes

The research investigated the permeability in polymer membranes for direct alcohol fuel cell. A description of fuel cell operating principles, types of fuel cell, applications and advantages of fuel cells. The properties of proton exchange membrane such as porosity, water and aqueous alcoholic solution uptake, and ion exchange capacity were determined. The permeability of various alcohols through nafion-115 and nafion-1135 was determined using cyclic voltammetry technique. Nafion membrane porosity decreases with increase in membrane thickness. Nafion 115 has lower membrane porosity than Nafion-1135 in water, 1M Methanol, 1M Ethanol and 1M isopropyl alcohol solutions. Nafion- 115 with higher thickness, lower permeability, and lesser porosity is suggested as a better polymer electrolyte membrane for direct alcohol fuel cells.