Nafion reinforced with polyacrylonitrile nanofibers/zirconium-graphene oxide composite membrane for direct methanol fuel cell application

Abstract

Electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers decorated with ZrO2 then blended with graphene oxide nanofibers were used to enhance the fuel cell performance and the conductivity of Nafion® membrane. The modified membranes and the commercial membrane were synthesized by recast method. Nanocomposite’s membranes had higher proton conductivity and overall membrane properties increased, and fuel cell efficiency than commercial Nafion® and similar work published in the literature®. The Nafion®-PAN/ZrO2-GO nanofiber membrane had a lower methanol permeability and a proton conductivity of 5.46 × 10–8 cm2/s and 0.46 mS/cm, respectively, with a fuel cell performance of 75.9 mWcm−2 at a current density of 250 mAcm−2. The composite membrane used in this study has potential for use in fuel cells.