Combinatorial Study of Blended Membranes for PEM Fuel Cells

Among fuel cell technologies, polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have gained momentum at a strong pace in small to medium scale energy generation (e.g., mobile applications, transportation, etc). Historically, the development of polymer electrolytes has gone through several stages: from ionic polymers of poly(ethylene oxide)-salt complexes, polystyrene sulfonate polymers, to perfluorinated sulfonated ionomer copolymers (PFSI) that constitute the base of current PEMFC technologies. However, it is clear that current membranes do not meet cost and durability requirements for large-scale implementation in automobiles. Thus, the search for lower-cost formulations continues.