Development of new high-performance conductive membranes based on polymerized ionic liquids for their use in fuel cells

ABSTRACT: This thesis focuses on the development of innovative polymeric membranes for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) without external humidification using ionic liquids as favorable proton exchange medium. In order to improve the low performance under non-humidified conditions reporte...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Díaz Vejo, Mariana
Tipo de recurso: tesis doctoral
Fecha de publicación:2017
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Cantabria (UC)
Repositorio:UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabria
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.unican.es:10902/10754
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10902/10754
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Electrolito
PEMFC
Polímero
Líquido iónico
Agua
Electrolyte
Polymer
Ionic liquid
Water
Descripción
Sumario:ABSTRACT: This thesis focuses on the development of innovative polymeric membranes for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) without external humidification using ionic liquids as favorable proton exchange medium. In order to improve the low performance under non-humidified conditions reported for commercial perfluorosulfonic membranes, an impregnation procedure with two different protic ionic liquids was carried out demonstrating the viability of protic ionic liquids as proton carriers under non-humidified conditions. The next step analyzed the design of high performance electrolytes under non-humidified conditions avoiding the use of expensive perfluorinated polymers. For this purpose, membranes based exclusively on polymerized protic ionic liquids were developed. Finally, membranes based on protic plastic crystal and electrospun nanofibers were developed. Overall, this work contributes to the progress of the state of the art of PEMFC and targets to the research of new electrolytes for this technology with improved properties over the most widely used perfluorosulfonic membranes.