Novel Approaches to Immobilized Heteropoly Acid Systems for High Temperature, Low Relative Humidity Polymer-Type Membranes - Final Report (open access)

Novel Approaches to Immobilized Heteropoly Acid Systems for High Temperature, Low Relative Humidity Polymer-Type Membranes - Final Report

Original research was carried out at the CSM and the 3M Company from March 2007 through September 2011. The research was aimed at developing new to the world proton electrolyte materials for use in hydrogen fuel cells, in particular with high proton conductivity under hot and dry conditions (>100mS/cm at 120°C and 50%RH). Broadly stated, the research at 3M and between 3M and CSM that led to new materials took place in two phases: In the first phase, hydrocarbon membranes that could be formed by photopolymerization of monomer mixtures were developed for the purpose of determining the technical feasibility of achieving the program's Go/No-Go decision conductivity target of >100mS/cm at 120°C and 50%RH. In the second phase, attempts were made to extend the achieved conductivity level to fluorinated material systems with the expectation that durability and stability would be improved (over the hydrocarbon material). Highlights included: Multiple lots of an HPA-immobilized photocurable terpolymer derived from di-vinyl-silicotungstic acid (85%), n-butyl acrylate, and hexanediol diacrylate were prepared at 3M and characterized at 3M to exhibit an initial conductivity of 107mS/cm at 120°C and 47%RH (PolyPOM85v) using a Bekktech LLC sample fixture and TestEquity oven. Later independent testing by Bekktech LLC, using a …
Date: May 20, 2012
Creator: Herring, Andrew M.; Horan, James L.; Aieta, Niccolo V.; Sachdeva, Sonny; Kuo, Mei-Chen; Ren, Hui et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library