Highly dispersed CeOx hybrid nanoparticles for perfluorinated sulfonic acid ionomer–poly(Tetrafluoethylene) reinforced membranes with improved service life

초록

CeO_x hybrid nanoparticles were synthesized and evaluated for use as radical scavengers, in place of commercially available Ce(NO₃ )₃ and CeO₂ nanoparticles, to avoid deterioration of the initial electrochemical performance and/or spontaneous aggregation/precipitation issues encoun-tered in polymer electrolyte membranes. When CeO_x hybrid nanoparticles were used for membrane formation, the resulting membranes exhibited improved proton conductivity (improvement level = 2–15% at 30–90◦C), and thereby electrochemical single cell performance, because the –OH groups on the hybrid nanoparticles acted as proton conductors. In spite of a small amount (i.e., 1.7 mg/cm3 ) of introduction, their antioxidant effect was sufficient enough to alleviate the radical-induced decomposition of perfluorinated sulfonic acid ionomer under a Fenton test condition and to extend the chemical durability of the resulting reinforced membranes under fuel cell operating conditions. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

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